Ophiucus the Fallen
by Athenai89
Summary: They had a piece of her heart and she had a piece of theirs and for this reason she was dangerous. The only thing to do was to disgrace her in their eyes so the only thing they would see would be: Ophiucus the Fallen. A story between the Original Series and the Lost Canvas
1. Prologue

"Si può sapere dove sei finita rincitrullita di un'oca giuliva?"

Cancer no Death Mask wasn't an elegant man. Not in his _beautifully divine _– his words – boyfriend's opinion, not in everybody else's opinion, let alone his own.

No, the Cancer Saint lacked that finesse, that _savoir faire_, that …something, that made everybody else look and act like decent human beings except for him.

He was, to use his boyfriend's, Pisces no Aphrodite, words, a barbaric brute with the eyes of a devil and a soul to match. And that, was perfectly fine with him!

That was the reason why he was in his house – completely devoid of the thousands of masks that dwelled there, a permanent _memento_ of his less than just approach to Athena's brand of divine justice – in nothing but his underwear, with a cigarette already at his lips, yelling for what could have been a stupid goose, but in reality was a young girl that usually shared the gloomy atmosphere of the Fourth House with him and was used to bake the most excellent cakes first thing in the morning.

But that morning, for the first time in years Death Mask of Cancer found no freshly baked cakes on his table. Nothing, _nada, zilch…_ and what was worse, not even a single trace of the girl that was supposed to have made them.

"Helena! Come out this instant before I decide to Sekishiki your sorry ass into the next world and leave you there!"

"Like you don't do exactly that every couple of days Death Mask!"

"Do not interfere in businesses that aren't yours overgrown sheep!"

The emeraldine eyes of Aries no Mu sparkled in the soft morning light taking no offence to the seemingly insulting words of his fellow Saint. He had long ago discovered that, under the mask there was a astonishing good man. The only problem was that you had to dig deep enough to find him and, before the Hades _debacle_, nobody had really had any wish to see what was under the strong armour of the _Karkinos _Saint.

But he had sacrificed himself for Athena, alongside everybody else, to allow the Bronze Saints access to Elysium and when they were all brought back by Athena's intervention, everyone of them had tried a little harder to discover what the Golden Crab had hidden out of sight.

Much of the merit of the discovery of the fluffy side of Death Mask could have been given to the exact same girl that the Sicilian was yelling for and that, apparently, had decided to make herself scarce that morning.

A strange occurrence, thought the Aries Saint. Not the disappearing act, that happened often enough that nobody was really worried anymore – who wouldn't disappear if they had to live with the moody Cancer Saint? – but the fact that said girl had disappeared before breakfast and without his knowledge.

After all he was the guardian of the First Temple and nobody could slip in and out of Sanctuary without, if not his permission, at least his knowledge.

"She hasn't gone down to the Arena, of that I am sure, so she might have gone up! I am going to the Pope, if you want we can ascend together in order to look for her…"

He had purposely left the phrase open, not wanting to crowd his companion, whose hatred for company was legendary! Again, how could the girl live with such a misanthropist was a question that had no answer anywhere in Sanctuary. Everybody had offered her a place to stay, she had even her own house, but she spent more time at Cancer's than anywhere else and she wasn't going to budge on that issue.

"_Che palle_! Fine _agnellino_ I'll come with you upwards, but when I find her you can bet your pretty little golden hammer that I'll make her pay the affront of going up without any breakfast!"

"If you really are that hungry I've got coffee and biscuits on the table so, feel free to join me…"

"Not even if you were the last possible meal available on Earth, Sea Lizard!"

Apparently the Cancer Saint had not yet forgotten the mouldy and overall disgusting things that the younger Gemini had passed for cookies the last time he had invited them to have tea in his house.

He personally thought that those things would have been disgusting even after being deprived of the sense of taste by the resident Buddha and the Sicilian had had no problem at all voicing his opinion to the house master that had, obviously, responded in kind, thus risking the infamous "Thousand days war".

Only the timely intervention of Aphrodite's poisonous roses and the Pope's own threat of sending them into Another Dimension had prevented bloodshed so soon after their rebirth.

Wisely deciding not to take offence at the other's less than gracious answer, Gemini no Kanon, formerly known as Sea Dragon, took a look around, hoping to see the only saving grace of the scorbutic Saint in front of him.

"Oi old man! Where's lovely Helena this morning? Did you send her to the Underworld again?"

"The fact that I have naturally silver hair, doesn't make me automatically an old man, _ciuriddu_! And no, I haven't seen _lovely Helena _at all this morning and we were just about to go look for her, before being rudely interrupted!"

The only thing preventing the blue haired man from disintegrating him on the spot were the pleading eyes that the Aries was giving him from behind Cancer. That and the fact the he really didn't know how he could have justified himself in front of his brother the Pope and Athena, for killing a fellow Saint for no apparent reason at all except the fact the he was being an ass.

"Mind if I join you then?"

"Does this look like a party to you eh?"

Not minding the _Karkinos_' attitude at all the Gemini Saint joined Mu and Death Mask in their search for their missing companion.

A search that turned out empty both at the Fifth and the Sixth House were Leo no Aiolia and Virgo no Shaka admitted to not having seen the young woman that morning. But if the young lion had admitted to being otherwise preoccupied, at those words Kanon could not stop himself from snickering at the embarrassed look that had graced the Leo, the reincarnation of Buddha had told them that he had been meditating all night so if anybody had traversed his house he would have known immediately.

Starting to worry a little for missing young woman the five men traversed quickly the Seventh and Eight Houses – the young again Dokho was at Goro Ho again to finally settling all ties there and live permanently at Sanctuary, while they knew that Scorpio no Milo could be found at the Eleventh House alongside his algid protector – before finally entering the Ninth House, the Sagittarius House, hoping against everything that their young friend had decided to stop at the Ninth to have a chat with Aioros, simply skipping the other houses by using the secret passages.

But the bewildered look of an Aioros unceremoniously dumped out of bed by Death Mask's yells had their hearts sink a little because so few houses were left and the feeling of dread had grown in their stomachs.

The Tenth House was empty as well by the slip of paper left by the door told everyone that the Gold Saint presiding it had been called up by Athena so the group proceeded and speedily advanced toward the Eleventh House.

"What do you mean you cannot find her? What did you do to her Death Mask?"

"Listen you filthy bug, if you do not want me to personally refresh your memory of Hell I suggest you keep those thoughts to yourself and stop accusing me of something that you know perfectly well I will never do!"

"He is right Milo! It was rude of you to jump to conclusions and blame Death Mask for Helena's disappearance!"

"But Camus, where could she have gone? You know she disappears only if she's had a fight with him or Aphrodite!"

"Death Mask is right! They didn't have a fallout yesterday or I would have heard them since they are right on my doorstep, but she might still be at Dite's, or she could have had a fallout with him so we better ask him quickly!"

And with that the Gemini Saint pivoted towards the door that led to the last of the Twelve Houses, the Pisces House whose protector, in the middle of a facial with freshly cut cucumbers on his eyes, had such a meltdown at the news of the girl's disappearance that his fellow Gold Saints thought they were going to die, poisoned by the beautiful roses that Aphrodite kept in his house.

The only thing that saved them from certain death had been the luminous Cosmo of their Goddess that had beckoned them towards the last temple.

"Is it true then? Has she disappeared?"

They hadn't even took a single step inside the great hall that the booming and very worried voice of the Taurus Saint had asked them the very question that they were all dreading to answer.

"Yes Aldebaran, she is missing, but she might have gone to stay with Seiya a bit maybe…"

The little sparkle of hope that the Aries Saint had managed to put inside the last sentence was readily crushed by the Capricorn Saint who had motioned no with his head, promptly followed by their Goddess' voice.

"She isn't there Mu, I have already checked with everyone of the Bronze Saints, they haven't seen her in weeks. I really don't know where she could be."

"If that is the case Athena, then I think we might be of some help…"

A new, deep voice, had entered the hall and the surprise that all had felt in knowing that a possible enemy had infiltrated Sanctuary all turned into dread when they saw who had entered the sacred grounds.

"What are you doing here Rhadamantys?"


	2. L'erba cattiva non muore mai

**Disclaimer: the characters of the Saint Seiya Manga and Anime, both the Original Series and the Lost Canvas, aren't mine but they belong to Kuramada and Teshirogi. Helena and the plot are of my property. The places I will mention in the story truly exist and are very beautiful to go and see. Enjoy and R&amp;R! Athinai89**

Cold and iron. Dust and blood.

This is the aftertaste she had in her mouth. Aftertaste of what she couldn't remember. All she knew is that her head was pounding like never before and her muscles were sore, like when she sleeps under the stars, without the protection and the softness of a proper bed.

The air she breathed felt stale and the light she saw was somehow muted.

She tried to stand but an ominous jingling was all she heard before collapsing down on her knees again, eyes adjusting to the absence of light in which they saw the chains that bound her hands and feet to the wall.

"Where am I? Who am I?"

The answers weren't as forthcoming as the questions. She knew that something was missing, something big that she had better remember before doing something regrettable, but that missing piece of the puzzle was playing hide 'n seek with her.

Another jingle, this time of keys in a lock, alerted her of someone's approach. She hoped they were allies and not enemies – when did she start thinking about people in those terms and not simply like friends or not friends? – but she knew that in both cases they held the answers to all her questions and the possibility of filling the gap that seemed permanently etched in her brain is grater that the fear that they could do something unfathomable to her.

Heavy steps drawing closer. Two sets, meaning two people.

Another jingle, this time closer, her door. The creepy creaking of metal junctures rarely used resonated in the silence like a thousand trumpets.

"Your meal, beast!"

And with that the threw the plate inside, water sloshing in the cup and what she could only describe as _sbobba _– where did that word come from? – smashing onto the pavement in front of her.

Why? Why were they this cruel? What had she done to them? For the life of Athena – who did refer to the ancient Gods anymore? – she could not remember anything!

"Eat that like the beast you are and be thankful our Mistress doesn't want anymore death on her young shoulders or you wouldn't even be here, Ophiucus the Fallen!"

Ophiucus the Fallen…a name, a definition, something ominous stirred in the back of her mind.

_Traitor! Beast! Child of the Devil! Snake!_

Everything now was coming back to her! Every sensation, every thought, every hit she had taken, and every evil she had committed.

Her mind couldn't take it anymore and darkness welcomed her in her lovely embrace.

She dreamt of long stairs and longer corridors, of beautiful gardens of roses and creepy death masks on bloody walls, of long blond hair of a youth in a lotus position and sparkly brown eyes of a young man chasing his brother.

She dreamt of people she didn't recognize, apparently distraught about the disappearance of somebody they cared about, of a girl with long silky black hair and crystalline lilac eyes.

She saw a woman, no more than a girl praying for the reappearance of this mysterious absentee and four young men huddled together to share what little comfort there was.

She saw all of this like someone who watches a movie, a story that is not yours. Everyone of them felt familiar but she couldn't say why.

And then as quickly as they had come, those images vanished, like the morning mist once the sun is fully in the sky, leaving nothing in their wake.

When she finally awoke she remembered nothing from her dreams, nothing from an hypothetical life before the one she was currently chained to.

She was Ophiucus the Fallen one, the demi-god that had challenged Athena for her rightful place in the universe.

She was the predestined one, the abused healer whose loyalty had been discussed one to many times to sit still and await judgement like always.

The Snake Master had reached his limit, and she was the perfect vessel to complete his task!

"They love you! Don't do this! Remember! I beg of you, please…remember!"

An echo, nothing more, readily discarded in the silence of the dark cell. The first assassination attempt had apparently failed, that much she knew, given her current circumstances, but she had no memory of the why. Her master had been patient until that moment but the young girl could feel him, stirring in the back of her mind, ready to deliver punishments worse of those of the Gods if she dared to repeat her failure.

She knew she had to get out of the cell and then regroup and rethink of another strategy to take down that fluffy goddess of justice.

"Remember who you are! Remember your name…"

Again with that voice! And what was this _baggianata_ of her name – again with strange words, when and where did she learn them she couldn't fathom – she didn't have a name and she definitely didn't need one! She was Ophiucus, the Snake Master, and that was it!

Another jingle alerted her of somebody's approach. The same steps of earlier, but this time there was another one with them, somebody…heavier.

Her cell's door opened, creaking for disuse – how long had she been buried in there? – and brute hands forced her in a standing position, despite the chains painfully biting in her limbs.

"Sooo, _picciridda_, I see that prison hasn't killed you yet! So it's true what they say, _l'erba cattiva non muore mai _(A bad penny is always turning up), oh well…if five years in prison haven't killed you there is always the death sentence that the Pope has managed to make Athena sign, little snake…"

Cancer no Manigoldo – that was his name if you remembered correctly, after all five years of solitude were a lifetime for someone of barely twenty years – the _teacher's pet_, was cheerful when he delivered her the news of her impending doom, but alas, she really couldn't remember a moment when the bastard hadn't been cheerful.

So she was to die. Finally Athena had taken action!

She quickly refocused on the man in front of her who was telling her, in details, the means of her death.

"…since Athena didn't want your blood on any of us and definitely not on Sanctuary, she decreed that you were to be dumped on the most remote island in the Mediterranean, Death Queen Island, and left there to die."

Her first instinct was to shout at the injustice of everything, at the indecisiveness of the current reincarnation of Athena, at the insult to her honour that was being left to die on an island.

She wanted to protest, to insist on a proper, more knightly death.

But she refrained. At the last moment she had understood that what everyone considered a sure death, could be her only ticket to salvation. She had only to survive the Inferno that was sure to come.

After his epic declaration of her demise, the Cancer Saint stayed silent, maybe waiting for an answer on her part –what was she supposed to tell him? That they had her permission to dump her in the middle of nowhere? –and when he understood that none was forthcoming he secured her too thin form under his arm and he took off at light speed; destination Death Queen Island.

Due to his speed the trip there took less than a minute to complete, and in the span of a heartbeat she was, once again, unceremoniously dumped on the hard floor. Only this time she could feel she had sand under her.

She gingerly tried to stand, just so she knew she could still do it, but when she tried to flex her fingers she found out that they were still in the metal gloves that had been put on her, the night of the failed assassination.

Sensing his guide was still there she pivoted on herself and held out her hands, in what she hoped was the universal sign of "Free me!"

She wasn't sure she could still talk in human language and not just the hissing that characterized the tongue of her beloved snakes.

She imagined, more than saw, Manigoldo moving his head in the universal symbol of no, and she felt a bit dejected. The gloves complicated her plan of escape.

"Nor the gloves nor the mask will be taken off, because they were your punishment and that is still going until your death. Plus they seal your Cosmo, so that you cannot escape! I…wish you a swift death Ophiucus the Fallen!"

And with those parting words the Gold Saint took off again towards Sanctuary, no doubt to inform the Pope, of his successful delivery of another soul to Hades.

She was so busy trying to find a way to survive with the hands bound and a mask on her face that she never noticed the lingering glance that Manigoldo sent her way before departing. She never saw the naked guilt in his eyes, but even if she had seen it that wouldn't have changed her mind about her mission against Sanctuary.

With no backwards glances she left the beach and went to explore the forest in front of her.

**L'erba cattiva non muore mai: A bad penny always turns up**

**Sbobba: Chow**

**Baggianata: Stupid thing**

**Picciridda: Little girl (this is Sicilian dialect)**


	3. Un'amicizia nei secoli

"MANIGOLDO!"

The outraged yell resonated in the deep valley of the Sanctuary like it had everyday for the past nine years, with nobody batting an eye to the oddity of the Pope running down the stair, hair and clothes billowing in the wind behind him, yelling for his beloved, yet in that moment particularly hated, student.

Nobody really knew what the young Cancer Saint had done that time to anger the Pope this much, but whatever that was, they were probably going to see the culprit later on, in the Arena, while being punished for his chronic irreverence.

Nothing new under the Hellenic sun that day, or so the peasants in Rodorio thought.

But alas, things weren't destined to stay still forever.

"Move your sorry ass out of my face, _rincoglionito_, before I decide to send you back from the hell you come from!"

These characteristic – if you knew the man uttering them – words were abruptly followed by a resounding clang and a muted thump signalling the forced dislodging of the offending person from the man in question.

"There is no need to be _that_ rude Death Mask! It's not Kanon's fault if we have arrived here in a tangled mess of limbs! We should be grateful instead that we have reached _somewhere_! Based on Chronos' words I thought that oblivion was the only thing awaiting us!"

The uncharacteristic wise words escaped the perfect rosy lips of a man – or what one could only hope was a man – with long hair of the colour of the sky. Pisces no Aphrodite had always been a vain and shallow person, but dying and coming back to life had inculcated, at least in him, a new maturity that had transformed him – at least partially.

"Listen, _puttanella_, I don't really have the patience to listen to you preaching on the goodness of the world! The quicker we find that idiot the sooner we go home and forget this all thing!"

Since that phrase had been the closest that the Cancer Saint had gotten to admitting his worries over their missing companion, the other wisely decided to keep their mouths shut and get up to assess the situation.

"Well, well, well, _ma guarda che cosa abbiamo qui! _I always told the old man that the dangers hadn't really disappeared! Oh well, the others don't need to know and I can have a little bit of fun!"

And with those words the newcomer started glowing of a spectral blue light that suddenly divided itself into little blue fires, all while, obviously, laughing maniacally.

"_Ma chi cazzo ti credi di essere figghiu di na gran…"_

"That's enough Death Mask! There is no need to be this vulgar!"

With those words, alongside a Cosmo of immense and divine proportions, a young woman, managed to stand upright, having been flattened by the immense stature of the Taurus Saint, who was desperately trying to get up from the pavement without hurting anybody else.

The white _xeitonas_ and the long violet hair flowing in the light breeze were a sight to behold and that, alongside the apparently Italian man he had heard before, managed to freeze Manigoldo on the spot.

If looks could kill the man that had spoken such vile words would have been six feet under a lot of times judging by the scalding look the young woman was giving him, but the silver hair man wasn't paying attention to it, like he was perfectly fine with that.

After a minute in silence, the young woman understood that she was fighting a lost battle, if not even war, and she decided to dedicate her attention to the young fellow that had found them in the woods.

"You are Cancer no Manigoldo right?"

That the young woman knew his name didn't particularly faze the Gold Saint. After all the old man Sage yelled it often enough for anybody to have heard it.

No, what irked the young man was the weird sensation that had permeated the air and the odd fact that sixteen men and a young woman were sprawled on the forest's floor like they had been dumped there from a consistent height.

"Thank everything my soul has bettered itself in the reincarnation cycle! He looks like a dead fish!"

Wait a second! Reincarnation cycle? What on earth did that foul man mean?

Now that he looked at all of them he could find some similarities with his fellow Gold Saint, he could even see himself – a dejecting thought indeed – in that idiot with silver hair.

"Asking you to be less rude is a lost battle right Death Mask?"

"You know me so well My Lady! I am humbled by the attention you bestow on me!"  
In the thirty seconds of pure silence that had followed that statement, Manigoldo realised that he probably ought to call the Pope, and alert Sanctuary of intruders with possible ill intentions.

"I'm sorry to have startled you like that but I have a favour to ask of you. Could you please escort us to Lady Athena, Cancer no Manigoldo?"

Mouth still open – he really started to look like a dead fish, much to his frustration – he could only dumbly nod before walking back to the Twelve House of the Zodiac.

Which they passed with the littlest trouble anyone had ever managed on the ascension. There were no questions, no permissions to pass through, no denials of said passage, in a nutshell, no Gold Saints presiding the Houses.

Even without troubles the stairs seemed to take forever, and more than one of those youths privately thought that they needed to convince Athena to change to disposition of the Temples, not imagining that the august goddess was thinking the exact same thing.

When they finally, and miraculously in some cases, arrived at the Thirteenth House, they finally discovered where all the Gold Saints had been stashed.

In the Throne's Room, flanking the Throne, there were the eleven missing Saints, and in the middle, seated on that Throne, was a young girl that looked exactly like the one that had just passed through the doors, and behind her a man with a winged helm covering his face.

"Welcome, Lady Saori and you my fellow friends, I welcome you to my Sanctuary! I thank you Manigoldo for escorting them here, you can take your place now, so we can begin!"

Numbly, still thinking it all a dream the Cancer took his position, in between the very young Leo Saint and the very frightening Gemini Saint.

"I thank you for your warm welcome Lady Sasha! I think we better introduce ourselves before we begin. As you already know I am Athena, but I am from the XX century, a future reincarnation if you want, and these are my Gold Saints: Aries no Mu, Taurus non Aldebaran, Gemini no Kanon, Cancer no Death Mask, Leo no Aiolia, Virgo no Shaka, Libra no Dohko…"

At that name, another youth, this time in Sasha's army bristled a bit. Was it possible? Or it was simply a case of two people with the same name? He desperately wanted to check, but a look from Athena held him still.

"…Scorpio no Milo, Sagittarius no Aiolos, Capricorn no Shura, Aquarius no Camus, Pisces no Aphrodite and finally my Pope, Saga. We have been also accompanied by three _trusted_ allies: Wyvern no Rhadamantys, Griphon no Minos, Garuda no Aiacos, as ambassadors from Lord Hades and eventual reinforcements."

At the last three names all Hell – no pun intended – threatened to break loose in the Throne Room, by Athena's voices brought back order to chaos: "Need I remind you, my Saints, that there is a treaty now between me and Hades? And that the three Infernal Judges are not to be considered enemies?"

Silence descended once again in the room and that era's Athena was finally free to continue their conversation.

"You are welcome here my friends, but if I may ask, what is it that brings you here? To this place and time?"

"We are here to rescue a precious person, a loved sibling, a trusted friend, a rare warrior of the body and of the spirit! She was taken from us forcibly and we not nothing of her whereabouts and conditions. We only know that she had been brought here, but why we don't know. We aren't here to change the future, we simply want her back!"

A soul forcibly dragged through time wasn't a laughing matter. There was a very high risk of interference and even of destruction of a particular future if one wasn't very careful.

But to be careful you needed to be aware of the fact you were time travelling and it looked like in this case the pour young woman had been kidnapped and sent here as a punishment.

"If we can be, in any case, of help, just say so! We are at your service! Just out of curiosity, what was the girl's name?"

In the split second before young Saori told them the name, Sasha felt a sensation of dread pooling in her stomach. Somehow she knew she wasn't going to like what was about to get out of her reincarnation's mouth.

"Her name is…Ophiucus no Heleiana!"

Before Sasha had any opportunity of stopping any _unthought-of_ comment from her Saints, Manigoldo's voice resonated loudly in the silent candid room.

"You are here for the traitor?"

He should have observed better the newcomers' reactions. If he had he probably would have formulated differently his last comment…

"You are late to the party, I dumped her to her doom a week ago. By now Ophiucus the Fallen is dead!"


	4. To fos stin psichi

Ophiucus the Fallen wasn't dead…_yet_, but judging by her thirst, the distinct lack of feeling in her arms and the double vision she kept experiencing, she wasn't that far off from the Underworld.

She had always known that in order to escape she needed to pass through Hell but even in her darkest dreams the torture she was enduring was almost too much to bear.

A week. A measly seven days, that in any other case would have flown by, had stretched like seven centuries in that inhospitable desert of an island.

But the worst part wasn't the burning thirst or the continuous rumble of her stomach, a rumble she couldn't stop because how in the name of everything do you hunt, skin or dig with metal mittens?

No the worst part was the voice in her head. The terrifying goody-to-shoes – she might her referred to her as _perfettina_ – whose voice had tormented her incessantly since her escape from prison, begging her either to reconsider murdering Athena or to remember her name, usually both in the same sentence, over and over again.

She was always droning on companions, friends, family even; people that were supposed to love her – like that ever happened outside stories – that had given her a second chance, the family and the affection she had never had.

Always depicting a world too good to be seriously true.

But how do you get rid of a voice in your head? The already more-dead-than-alive girl didn't know, but what she was sure of was that if that voice _didn't_ stop she was going to die, victim of a mad impulse of suicide, just to shut the voice up!

"Look what we got here…no doubt another nice young victim of Athena's _justice_ ne? Shall we take her with us or do we have mercy on her soul right here right now?"

Even if she couldn't really see them – the mask had a sort of filter over her eyes that really complicated things – she knew they were three men and of the worst species. Brutes, thieves, murderers, even rapists probably. Perfect! Exactly what she needed to get out of that Gods' forsaken island!

Perfectly aware of the fact that she couldn't talk anymore like a normal human being the girl knew she had to resort to more basic and universal means of communication.

With a mask on and gloved hands there wasn't much she could do in the seducing department, but the men in front of here weren't that picky, she realized when she saw the hungry looks her battered body had garnered.

Moving her arm in a very bad imitation of the universal "come hither" sign she beckoned them close, counting the different steps and trying to judge their build and brute force.

The three men slowly advanced, predatory grins on their faces that she was sure were going to send her other personality into a fit – maybe if she was lucky she was going to get rid of her as well – circling her like predators with their prey.

When one of them tried the direct approach she quickly caught his hand mid-air, brought him forth towards her and impaled him with his very same knife that she had taken from his belt.

"Please stop it! In the name of justice don't kill them! Don't become a murderer please…"

Again with that voice! Damn it! If that shit continued she was going to loose her mind sooner or later!

"Well, well! I see that you aren't like the others…when they get dumped here their fighting spirit has already been broken…they only await the time when merciful death will come to take them…but not you…you are different! There is still fire in your soul, a strong desire to live and not die here. A purpose if you will…but alas, you have killed my mate and for that you must be punished! Josè, kill her!"

When she saw Josè she knew that her chances to escape alive from that Island had plummeted dramatically, but she still couldn't give up! Her master had assigned her a mission and she wasn't going to disappoint him by dying before accomplishing her goal.

So she closed her eyes, ignored the persistently annoying voice in her head, and tried to bring up the memories of a time far away, when she had been a student, an apprentice, trying to win a cloth like many other orphaned children.

The massacres that passed for training that had killed more than half of the competition were sure to come in handy now, she thought, when faced with an adversary that was at least double her size, and while she was at a distinct disadvantage.

Moving rapidly to her left she then pivoted on her right foot to kick his opponent in the face, without much success but at least the sand she had inadvertently brought up managed to blind him for a couple of precious seconds which she used to escape his clutches.

From then on she felt him, more than saw him charging towards her like a bull.

The image of a golden bull, one with an open and kind face, superimposed themselves to the harsh reality for a moment, blinding her to the attack coming her way.

"Damn it! I if don't stop these illusions they are going to kill me!"

The impact was devastating, but somehow she managed not to loose consciousness, knowing fully well that if she did that she was signing her death certificate.

When her enemy charged again, no strange images were forthcoming so she could see the attack and easily avoid it, all the while implementing a strategy for her victory.

When the enraged bull attacked her for a third time, she knew she had won. At his approach she jumped higher than him managing, if just barely, to land behind his body and then she turned around and punch his off-balance form with all her might.

For once luck was on her side and the last she saw of her enemy was his body mid-air, arms flailing around in a pathetic hope of stalling the inevitable fall.

She didn't have time to congratulate herself on her victory that a traitorous cold iron impaled her from behind.

When the dagger shot out of her body, in preparation of a second, fatal, strike, two very different things happened, almost simultaneously: a blinding white light enveloped her body before shooting out towards the equatorial skies and finally – finally – a blissful silence descended in her head once more, and simultaneously a new deep voice stopped the dagger from completing its merciful mission.

"Don't kill her Alejandro!"

The man called Alejandro, pivoted on his heels dragging her unresponsive body with him.

"But Boss, you have seen her! She has killed two of my best men practically without breaking a sweat! I have to avenge them!"

"You will do no such thing! If they managed to get killed by a young girl who looks more dead than alive than they aren't worth of your revenge! If nothing she has done me a favour! But that's exactly why I want her alive! She'll come with us and her presence will more than compensate me for my losses!"

"But…"

"No buts Alejandro! Take her with us!"

Not one to capitulate so quickly, even in front of his boss, the thug punched her so hard that finally unconsciousness claimed her.


	5. Smettila di chiamarmi ragazzina!

"HI!"

"_Porcaccia di quella miseria! Da dove ca**o sbuchi ragazzina?!_ You're lucky I'm in a good mood or else you would be wandering the dark planes of the Underworld by now!"

"You talk funny! I like you!"

Death Mask of Cancer was not an easily surprised man. He had a reputation for being thought both in the body and in the spirit – after all you cannot be a sissy while dealing with dead souls on a daily basis right? – and the times he had been rendered speechless could have been counted on the fingers of one hand and in every one of these occasions the culprit was always the same: the missing Saint of Ophiucus.

He still refused to think about her as dead, and he had told as much to any of his fellow Saints. He hadn't seen her soul at the gates of the Underworld yet, and until he had he would not believe her demise for one single instant. The others had taken comfort in the news, but the fact that the young girl hadn't called out for their help had put a sliver of doubt in their hearts, a doubt that no one wanted to share with the Cancer Saint who, they knew, loved the Helena deeply, despite his constant grumbling about her.

"Are you alright? You seem sad…"

Brusquely jolted out of his reverie the Saint of Cancer reacted in the only way he was comfortable with…he lashed out, destroying into nothingness the column next to the one the obnoxious little girl was seated.

Little girl who, to her credit, didn't as much as flinch while everything around her turned to dust.

"You shouldn't do that! It is not nice to destroy thing, especially since they aren't yours…that's what my dad used to say…"

"Listen _picciridda_, don't you have anywhere else to be? I don't want company, especially not little girls' company! Get lost now and nothing will happen to you!"

With that, he swirled his cloak rather dramatically behind him and started walking away from the most damaged area of the Sanctuary, where he had taken refuge against the expression of utter devastation that his boyfriend seemed to have permanently etched on his face, since that idiotic Manigoldo had told them he had killed Helena.

Or at least he tried to get away until a sniff reached his ears.

"Oh no you don't! Don't you dare start crying little girl! If you are trying to move me, let me tell you that you have the wrong person! I have killed people younger than you for less!"

He hoped he had scared her enough to leave him alone. He wouldn't have killed her, he didn't do that anymore, not since Athena had revived him after Hades, and even before that he had always had a soft spot for little girls, as was confirmed by the fact that, despite being an obnoxious brat, Helena had reached maturity, even living with him.

"Then kill me! You would only do me a favour…"

It was the last part, spoken in undertones, that chilled the Sicilian to the bone. He had never met anybody that young that already wanted to die. No…that wasn't true…a memory that he thought long forgotten surfaced again.

_"__Stop crying you brat! The Pope entrusted you to me so I could make a Saint out of you, but if you keep crying like a little girl than I'll be forced to kill you!"_

_"__Then why don't you kill me? Why are you stalling your hand Cancer? Won't my pretty little face be a nice addition to your collection Death Mask? You keep saying you've killed for much less…so I am asking you: why don't you kill me!? You would only do me a favour…"_

_"__A favour kid? Why would I only do you a favour? Why do you want so badly to die?"_

He remembered he had been desperate to know at that time. He had people begging for their life constantly, but never anybody had begged him to die, not someone that young!

He also remembered that when the young Helena – she wasn't even seven years old – had given him her answer he had desperately wished he hadn't asked.

_"__Why do I so desperately want to die you ask? Because I have nothing left here for me to live…my family was killed by the Yakuza right under, my twin brother disappeared soon after that… bad luck followed me everywhere I went… people started shunning me, believing me some kind of witch because I can understand and talk to snakes, and when finally someone came to take me away, to a new life as a Saint of Athena, I discovered that I am destined to the blackest of the cloths, the traitor of the Zodiac…did you know, Cancer, that I am destined to the cloth of Ophiucus the Fallen? So you better kill me now, there is nothing good that will wait for me down this road…"_

Ophiucus the Fallen, the traitor, the cursed Cloth. He had heard of it, of course, all of them had. It was the horror story, the moral story that mentors told them as the perfect example of what they weren't supposed to become. And even he had been suitably scared by that story. The legends that circulated around that cloth were worse than any horror he had managed to conjure over the years. To say that it was cursed was an understatement. Whoever had wore the cloth had lost his mind to its evil powers, becoming a ruthless, mindless killer.

He had known in advance what were the Pope's plans for the girl: to make her a fine assassin, someone to infiltrate into the Kido foundation, where she was to befriend the young heiress and than terminate her. He had thought that the Pope would have given her one of the Silver Cloths, something that didn't look threatening but contained a ruthless power inside, like the Crane Cloth.

But in hearing the name of the Forgotten One, knowing exactly what cloth and what path had been laid in front of that girl, what cruel destiny had been forced on those fragile shoulders, something he had thought long dead, had reawakened to life.

He had nullified his Cosmo and relaxed his fighting stance and he had slowly advanced to her sobbing form, curled on his floor.

_"__I will not kill you girl…you're face isn't really suited to my walls, but I'll make a deal with you: if you survive the training with all twelve Gold Saints I will help you find your brother. We can start from the Underworld and then if he is not there we'll move onto the world of the living. It'll be our secret girl so don't go telling everyone about this or your face will end up in my wall! Are we clear?"_

He had never heard her laugh before that moment and when he had heard that sound he had known that he was doomed. She reminded him too much of his own little sister, the only human being he had ever loved with all his heart, the only one he hadn't been able to save.

In her memory he vowed to protect the girl he now had in front of him from the horrible destiny that had been bestowed on her.

And that was how their unlikely partnership had started. Through the years it had naturally progressed to a state where she freely called him "big-brother" and he secretly thought the same thing.

She had saved herself from her destiny as a mindless killer, but he hadn't been able to celebrate it with her. While she freed herself of Death's binding he had met the Black Lady for the final time when he paid the ultimate price for a life of foolishness in the name of a justice that wasn't just.

Supreme irony had wanted that she had found her long lost brother, Pegasus no Seiya, in the events that had heralded his own death. There hadn't been much time to mourn the dead that they had come back to life, seemingly as traitors and his little sister had been forced to send him back to the hell he had come out of, tears on her face and broken heart in her chest.

But Athena had been merciful and had granted them another chance and finally they had been able to talk and mend their broken relationship.

And now this…but he wasn't going to give up hope, not yet.

The desperate sobbing brought him back to reality where the girl was still sitting on the same semi-column.

"I will not kill you girl, so you can stop crying! Do you have a family to go back to?"

As he had guessed she signalled no with her head, liquid blue eyes desperately trying to hold back the tears, like he had asked.

"Then if you have nowhere to go you can come with me, I'll introduce you to some…friends. But if you go and tell them I think of them as such I'll do you the favour you seemed to desperately want right?"

Without waiting for an answer he started talking back to Sanctuary thinking that, maybe that obnoxious brat could make Aphrodite smile again, after all he wasn't the only one with a soft spot for little girls!

"Come on brat let's go!"

"Hey you! My name is not "brat", it's Nathair!"

_"__Smettila di chiamarmi "ragazzina" Mask! Io mi chiamo Heleiana!"*_

_*Stop calling me "little girl" Mask! My name is Heleiana!"_


	6. Una nuova speranza

"_Nicoletta! Muovi quel bel fondoschiena che ti ritrovi e vieni a darmi una mano!Non ti pago per non fare nulla!"_

_"__Arrivo subito, signora Agnese!"_

With a barely conceited sneer, the young girl who answered to the name Sara, folded the last of the sheets she had just taken down from the line and headed back into the inn to see what Mrs Agnese, the innkeeper wanted from her.

This had, unfortunately, been her routine from the moment she had woken up from the _impromptu_ nap courtesy of Alejandro and found herself onto a ship navigating from Death Queen Island to a city in the north of Italy.

While the circumstances of her capture hadn't been the best ones when she had woken up things had definitely improved. For once the obnoxious voice in her head had finally stopped her hammering, seemingly disappearing into the void never to return, and for that she couldn't have been happier.

Second, the men who had taken her prisoner had managed, with a bit of a side effect, to remove the iron gloves and the mask she was wearing. Unfortunately nor her hands nor her face were going to be the same again, but her freedom was well worth a couple of long jarring scars. After all, for a girl with no family and no love to speak of, what was a ruined face going to matter? It was not like she had had a lot of suitors to begin with…

After her awakening she had been introduced to the leader of their small venture: Leandro. He had been an interesting surprise in that company. She had thought him cunning, yes, but physically weak, but his lean and small body had been deceitfully strong when he had face her in an hand-to-hand combat.

Slowly the two had started to talk, to bond over past offences and grievances at the hands of Athena and her Sanctuary and the more they talked the more they connected so nobody had been surprised when she had exited his room one morning in nothing but one of his shirts. But while she could say that it was only sex something inside of her, something so reminiscent of that too-good-a-voice had settled inside her gut and squeezed unpleasantly every time she met with her lover.

Lover who had dumped her in Murano and had disappeared without a by-your-leave after having told her that in that microscopic dump of village, he had felt a very strong Cosmo, probably one of those idiotic Saints that followed Miss Fluffiness around like small ducklings.

His plan had been for her to infiltrate the village, befriend the owner of that Cosmo and than accompany him to Sanctuary where, with an ally inside, she could finish her mission once and for all.

At first she had been hesitant in telling him her mission, after all it was very well known that to trust someone meant to give that someone the chance to stab you from behind, but she had needed an ally, or at least a mean to get back to Sanctuary so she had little choice but to trust Leandro. Who had, surprisingly, nodded and incorporated her into his master plan that had apparently the ultimate goal of killing the Goddess of Justice but was, coincidentally, missing the main role in that: the assassin.

She should have been more careful, more alert, less prone to believe him and his friends –after all not everybody could sense Cosmos - but the offer had been so good, so right what she needed that she had dismissed her instincts and went along with the plan.

And that was why she was stuck as a bar wench in what had possibly been the dirtiest, poorest and shaggiest inn in all of Murano.

At first she hadn't understood why she had been dumped there, but when she had collided with another girl at the service of Mrs. Agnese, the innkeeper, she had understood.

They had been wrong, very very wrong.

The being emanating the strong Cosmo that Leandro had felt wasn't a man, a powerful, big, sturdy, blood-seeking man; no, that strong Cosmo was coming from a woman. A young girl, fourteen years old at best and with the smallest and softest body to match her carefree, naïve and all in all innocent personality.

No, this was not the accomplice they needed – for Athena's sake, the girl couldn't face a tiny spider without yelling let alone kill it! – but for all her knowledge that she was wasting time Ophiucus couldn't leave her.

Somehow Sara, the girl's name, had managed to carve out a niche in her black heart. She reminded her of someone else, of another girl with too big eyes and a look of utter innocence about her, but the mysterious girl's face was always bathed in a thick fog and no answer from her past was forthcoming.

"_Ahia! Ouch! Che male!_ What are you trying to accomplish Nicoletta? Are you trying to kill me?"

The girl's pained yell and subsequent question had jolted the Snake Fighter out of her reverie and with crescent dread she found herself poised to strike, her best and deadliest hit ready at her fingertips.

Startled and fearful – when had she started to feel such naked _fear_ for the girl in front of her? – she immediately dropped her fighting stance and relaxed her Cosmo in order to, at least, appear non-threatening to young Sara.

"Stop being an idiot! Because even if _I_ don't want to kill you that doesn't mean that _somebody else _ won't! You need to be on your guard _always_! So stop being a baby and try to focus on the lesson here!"

Judging by her charge's startled face she might have been a little too harsh in her reprimand but nobody could see how she had gotten attached to the midget in front of her, she had a _reputation _to uphold! Again those words sparkled something inside her soul, a long forgotten memory of a man with silver hair and bloody eyes, of a relationship beyond the one between a master and his charge, but the Fallen One ruthlessly squashed that feeling.

"C'mon! Let's try again! Uh –uh! No complaining! In less than two days we are going to Greece so you can begin _proper _training in order to get the Cloth you deserve and I won't have you dea… failing just because you weren't strong enough to withstand the training!"

The look in her student's eyes, rich dark brown with just a hint of gold in the right light, was the one that spoke of a renewed determination and an unstoppable trust in her master and the Fallen felt bad at the deceiving act she was putting up.

She couldn't follow the plan! She knew she had to kill Athena but she couldn't, wouldn't, put Sara's life in danger! But she also knew that she couldn't get attached to the young girl in front of her, she couldn't let her see the depth of that affection. She had already come too close to blurting out her secret not a minute ago and she knew that every interaction she had with the girl needed to cease, immediately.

She was going to take Sara to Greece like she had promised her, because the girl had a potential that was being squandered in her life as a kitchen maid in the forgotten Murano. Even if she despised Athena and her Saints she had promised the girl to take her to Athens and to Athens she was going to take her! And if she completed her mission favourably, maybe then she could resume her lessons with the girl…if Sara didn't hate her for what she had done.

Hate…an emotion she was very familiar with since her birth. She had hated her family, her life, her destiny and she had been hated in return by almost everybody she had come across.

But the young maiden in front of her didn't hate her, hadn't hated her even in the first days, when she had been beyond rude and demeaning, when the Devil Child had fought tooth and nail in order to prevent the formation of the her affection for the kitchen girl. A girl who was more stubborn than life itself and had wedged her place into her heart and she had camped there, with no intention of ever moving again.

And now, a little more than a month later, the girl by the name of Nicoletta – the Snake Mistress, the Devil Spawn – didn't want her to move. She could not bear the thought of her young charge hating her, trust destroyed, affection cast aside and happy memories forgotten.

She knew she had become greedy, she knew that those feelings were going to bring her to her death but she also knew she didn't want it to change.

She was aware that her affiliation to Sara was going to bring the younger girl to her death and she couldn't bear it. She shouldn't have felt so attached but she wasn't about to deny the pull of her soul.

She didn't want to see those brown eyes lifeless – she was young, too young for her life to be cut short – and so it was for this reason that, two weeks later, when Sara stood in front of the Pope accused – framed more accurately – of plotting Athena's death, she didn't hide in the shadows like she had been ordered to, waiting for the right moment to strike, but she surged forward towards the Pope and his golden jury and blurted out their plan and her role as an assassin in it.

The last thing she saw before being hit by the poisonous needle of the Scorpion were those golden-brown eyes full of an emotion she knew only too well: betrayal.

But at least they weren't lifeless and for that Ophiucus the Fallen thanked every deity she could think of before succumbing into darkness.


	7. Che cosa stiamo aspettando ragazzina?

Something big was about to happen. Of the Death Mask of Cancer was sure. The dead were restless and that always meant that something terrible was about to explode.

Truth to be told he had been restless for the past two weeks since the new arrivals had come to Sanctuary.

There was something stirring in the air, a presence familiar but at the same time unknown, something that had the Cancer Saint on his guard almost constantly.

He had tried to share his uneasy feelings with his fellow Saints but they were so enamoured with little Nathair that they hadn't felt a single thing. And Death Mask could not really yell at them for their lack of awareness. The little girl was adorable, that was sure, and the others weren't attuned to the subtle shifts in the air like he was: he liked to think that it was his natural ability as Guardian of the Hades Mouth but he knew that he owed it more to Heleiana's presence over the years than to anything else.

He was surprised that the three Infernal Judges hadn't felt anything but he supposed that it took a long practice to be able to recognize the tell-tale shift in the air that signalled the arrival of a known soul.

Known soul…oh sweet Athena! A known soul! Of course!

How could have missed it? How did he not recognize the feeling of a soul that was so dear to him?

Because, that feeling wasn't _exactly_ like Helena's soul, it was different, missing a piece, an important piece at that, something defining…but he wasn't going to waste more time on that, not now, not when he was so close to finding her again! Everything else could come later, they could overcome anything together!

He was so focused on his mad dash toward Sanctuary – relieved beyond words that nobody he knew was paying him any attention – that he didn't see the young girl in the middle of the street until he had bowled her over.

"Ehi _stupida! Guarda dove vai!_"

"_Stupida a chi, brutto cafone! E poi guarda tu dove vai visto che sei tu quello che mi è venuto addosso!"_

For a hopeful second the sound of having somebody respond in his native language had him hope that he had finally found his missing sister, but all of his hopes were promptly shattered when he locked eyes with a young girl of no more than fifteen with fiery brown eyes, a little clouded by something akin to a loss.

Having insulted him the girl pivoted on herself and started going back to where she came when he felt _something_ resonate with his Cosmo.

"Wait! Don't go! What is your name?"

He was being uncharacteristically gentle and polite and for the second time that day he thanked the stars that nobody he knew was there to see this embarrassing show, but he couldn't scare her, not without finding out why she had been marked by the Ophiucus.

"Sara…my name is Sara, yours?"

He debated for a second whether or not give her his true name, but nobody apart from Helena and Aphrodite knew it and if his chosen name sent her running…well it wasn't as though he couldn't find her again.

"I am called Death Mask…"

He saw her pale and mentally prepared for yet another fainting spell that seemed so frequent around young girls when he was in her company, but after a second or two she righted herself again and spoke, so softly that for a moment he thought he had imagined it.

"So you are her friend…"

_Her? _Who was she? Dared he hope?

"Who is she? Young? Long, flowing, jet black hair? Crystal lilac eyes? Golden armour? Tell me!"

She hadn't looked like she was going to give him an answer but the rising panic in his voice and the naked affection for this girl that she could see on his face had her speaking before she could really decide to.

"She is young yes, long flowing hair, but white not black and blood red eyes, more or less like yours…no golden armour that I could see, no particular use of Cosmo that I can recall. She _was_ a trusted friend, a sister almost until she betrayed me when she used me as bait in her plan to _assassinate_ the Goddess Athena! I still cannot believe she did that! She seemed a nice person enough, caring if a bit gruff, like she didn't want to know she cared. She had this huge sweet tooth for apple pie and _cassata_ and she always had a beautiful rose in her hair, I have never seen her without, she said that the rose reminded her of someone, long forgotten that she was trying to remember again…"

By the end of her speech the girl had broken down in the middle of the road and started crying her heart out for what she had deemed a betrayal, but the Cancer Saint couldn't focus on that, he couldn't offer any form of consolation, not when his world had been rocked out of axis and finally, finally, put back together.

The girl's description didn't match Helena physically, but her preference for apple pie and _cassata_, possibly in the same spoonful and the fact that this mysterious girl couldn't leave the rose because of a long forgotten someone made him instinctively think of her, and he knew he was right.

But the pieces of the puzzle didn't add up, Helena couldn't really be thinking to kill Athena, that wasn't right at all! She protected their Goddess, like the others, him included, but she did a better job at it because she also protected the friend, Saori.

Something foul was happening and Death Mask was damned if he didn't find out what that was.

"You said that she betrayed you, that she used you in her ploy to get to Athena, but when you told me I was one of her friends you didn't use a past tense so she isn't dead…where is she?"

"She sacrificed herself for me…I was framed for a murder I never wanted to commit and at the last possible minute she jumped out and accused herself; she revealed her plan and my framing, she said she was Ophiucus the Fallen and that she was taking full responsibility for everything and that I was not to blame! The last I have seen of her she was being dragged out the court room by a man looking like you but with blue hair instead of silver. I followed them and I saw she was being brought to some kind of dungeon, but I haven't seen her since…"

Manigoldo then…he had played a part in Helena's assassination attempt the first time and imprisonment the second time and then he hadn't told them anything even though they had specifically asked this time's Athena to know immediately if their friend, sister, popped up. There was a specific corner in Hell that Death Mask had reserved for him, pre-incarnation be damned.

"You don't hate her…"

The words had escaped him before he could anything to stop them, but that didn't make them any less true…

"What? Of course I hate her! She betrayed me…"

"And yet you followed them to see where she was taken and you plan to spring her from her prison, otherwise this _collection_ of items are completely useless to a girl like you…so tell me which is it? Love or hate?"

"I…I…think…oh hell! I know I love her! She is the sister I never had! And something deep inside me tells me she didn't want to betray me or even kill the goddess; something or someone made her do it!"

"You have guts little girl! That and a very strong intuition that matches your heart!"

At that the girl went red and started stammering.

"That's what she said to me…exactly the same words…"

And at that it was the Cancer's turn to redden and stammer his way through a sentence, because that was exactly what he had told Helena, the first time she had been able to summon the souls of the dead.

Coughing he somehow tried to cover up his embarrassment and reverting back to his usually gruff and ill-mannered personality he barked: "What are we waiting then _ragazzina_?" and with that he stalked towards what he hoped was the direction of the prison in which his little sister was kept.

With an easy laugh and a fond shake of her head Sara followed his lead, a new hope shining in her eyes rekindling the fire of affection that hadn't really been dead.

_Hang on sister of my heart, I'm coming to save you!_


	8. Un gioco da ragazzi

Damn, this was going to be harder that he had thought. The prison in which they had taken Helena was none other than the Fourth House, a place that the XX century Cancer Saint dreaded more than everywhere else.

"This is going to be very difficult…"

"Why? It's just a fancy house! There are non bars at the windows and no big guarded door at the front so it should be very easy, _un gioco da ragazzi!_"

_Oh how I wish that to be true_!

"No, girl…it's not going to be a child's play even without barred windows and doors. This House doesn't need them to be the best prison there is…the house itself is impenetrable and there is nothing that anybody can do against that!"

"So we are doomed then…we are never going to be able to find her at all! This venture has all been for not wasn't it? I cannot believe that house is impenetrable! I just think you are too coward to go in and that you really don't want to save Nico…Helena at all! I had thought you a more honourable…AAAH!"

A rough and calloused hand shot out and grabbed by the neck; blood red eyes fixed on her, alight with some kind of deep emotion and fury, a lot of fury towards her; silver hair gleaming in the moonlight, moved by the insistent breeze coming from his Cosmo; all in all, under the pale light of the moon Death Mask, in all of his fury and agony, was a sight to behold.

Too bad that she was going numb from the lack of air into her windpipe.

After ten agonizing seconds in which she thought she was really going to die and he really contemplated the possibility of killing her, the chokehold he had around her neck vanished as quickly as it had manifested.

"I will not kill you because I promised _her_ that I would not kill another soul who didn't deserve to die, but if you only repeat what you just said nothing, and I mean nothing, will save you from a very long a painful death, do you understand?"

Too shocked to really process what had just happened the young girl merely nodded her understanding, suddenly aware of just how dangerous the man in front of her really was.

"Never for an instant believe that I would let her rot in a prison without doing everything in my power to free her! I had a sister once, a sweet little thing five years my junior. She followed me everywhere like a duckling and I would have done just about anything for her. She died the day of her fifth birthday during a _regolamento dei conti_ between rival mafia clans. She died alongside my mother and father because her only fault had been wanting an ice cream as her birthday cake. I hadn't wanted the ice cream so I had opted to stay at the park and play some more, waiting for them. I saw them fall while the machine guns pulverized the ice cream stand. I saw them, her, fall and there was nothing I could have done to save them. That day I closed my heart to everything and anything. That day I swore to avenge them and to sick revenge and destruction on those who had killed them. That day was the day in which I became Death Mask. And I had thought myself happy with the life of bloodshed I had chosen. I had managed to become the Cancer Gold Saint and I was free to unleash every kind of horror on unsuspecting people, all in the name of what, I know now, was a twisted sense of justice. But one day she came into my life. Dumped there by our Pope who sought to leash me and punish us both. She came in seeking death and I almost gave it to her. But at the last possible second I saw something in her eyes, something that stalled my hand. She had the same defiant look my sister had when asking something she knew very well she couldn't have. And in that exact moment the barrier around my heart broke down and I found myself hoping to change her mind, to have her live, wanting, against all odds, another chance at that brotherly bond that had been ripped too soon. To this day I still don't know what I have done in this or in any past lives to deserve her continued presence in my life but I took a vow back then, to never let any harm befall on her, to protect her like I couldn't protect my sister, and I have no intention of breaking that vow, not today not ever! So don't go and judge matters you know nothing about little girl!"

Like many others before her she had judged him on his looks – a bit satanic – on his personality- to say it was rude and crass was being polite – and on the things that came out of is mouth – more often than not they were curses, swear words and not so complimentary epithets – but in that moment she finally saw his soul. And while everything else might have been cheap and not very pretty, the fire blazing in his soul was a thing of beauty. Because Death Mask of Cancer was quick to judge and even quicker to hate, but those few he loved, he loved them with a passion and a loyalty worthy of the utmost praise.

"I am sorry! I spoke out of turn…but if what you say it's true – and I'm not saying I don't trust you – but if the house is really impenetrable as you told me, how are we going to save her? We are only two…"

"Sometimes a small number is the only thing needed girl…and the house might be nigh impenetrable but…there is one that can penetrate its walls…"

"There is? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Who is it?"

"I am…"

The silence that followed the admission had him look at her and, seeing her look of disbelief, hurry into his explanation.

"I am the Cancer Saint, guardian of the Fourth House of the Zodiac and that, even though it's a different time, is the Fourth House. So it is the Cancer House, my house."

"O-o-o-k…still don't see how we are going to get inside and spring Helena though…"

"There is no _we…_ _I_ am going inside and free Helena and you are going to stay here, where you are safe, and wait for our return!"

"_Manco morta!_ Maybe we haven't understood each other you overgrown crab! I. Am. Not. Staying. Here! I am not some damsel in distress that needs protecting! I am trained to fight!"

"No! You aren't trained to fight, you are just being trained! And there's a huge difference in that! I am not risking your life in this! Helena will have my head if something were to happen to you while you were rescuing her, so you are going to stay here and that's final!"

"Fine, I'll stay here! And see if I care that you cannot pass the guards outside the house! When you'll be dead I'll sneak in myself and free Helena…"

Damn the girl had a point. From their position in the shadows in the secret passage near the Fourth House Death Mask could see no less than three guards stationed outside and possibly two more inside. He could, of course, send them all to Hell with the Sekishiki, but his powers had the tendency to manifest themselves with an irritating blue light that, while suitably ghostly normally, in this case it would give away their position almost immediately. He could not save his sister alone but he was loath to ask the young girl's help.

"I can help you…I'll make some noise and draw them out and you can sneak in and free her…I'll stick to the shadows, nobody will see me and your head will be safe!"

He knew he should say no, that he should insist and send her away, maybe even to his comrades, his…friends – and isn't that an admission when it comes to the other Gold Saints – who still don't know what is happening and are probably worried about his prolonged disappearance; but they were so close to Helena that he knew he was going to be selfish. Hoping against all odds that he was not going to regret his decision he nodded his consent.

"If something happens to you and, Athena forbid it, you are killed, know that I control one of the entrances of the Underworld and I will find you and make you regret your decision, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

And with that she was gone.

Less than thirty seconds later a rusting sound, followed by a scream brought all of the guards away from their positions and he was free to enter the house.

Like a well-worn jumper the house seemed to shift to accommodate its owner who wasn't its owner but, thankfully, he didn't trigger any alarm.

He had always known he had cells in his house, for what purpose he didn't know, but apparently this Cancer Saint used them fairly regularly if the cleanliness of that particular corridor was any indication.

The silence was suffocating and what was worse was that he couldn't feel Helena's Cosmo. It wasn't blocked, it simply wasn't there.

Fortunately the torches told him the way even though he couldn't feel the prisoner and soon enough he found himself in front of a wooden door.

Knowing he had no time to loose the kicked the door open and in the dim light of the torches his heart stopped.

Chained to the wall, high enough that she was half standing in what was definitely a very uncomfortable position, was the girl who had occupied his thoughts for the past month and a half. Her hair was white, just like Sara had said, but she was unmistakably his little sister.

He forced his feet to move towards her, afraid that she was gravely injured since she hadn't really responded to his entrance, when finally she looked at him.

And the sight was almost enough to kill him, there and then, because her beautiful face was scarred beyond any recognition and her bloody red eyes were alight with emotions that usually didn't cross his Helena's face.

"Helena?"

Fearful, that was how his voice sounded and he hated himself and those responsible for this even more.

"Who is Helena? And who are you?"

And with those words his world came shattering down.


	9. Salvala Atena! Salvala

"Traitors in the house! Traitors in the house!"

The yell had pierced the still air like a whip and jolted the silver hair man out of his reverie and into action.

Knowing he didn't have a lot of time to free Helena and get the hell out of that creepy place – and wasn't that an uncomfortable thought to have for his own house – he dashed to her side, pointedly ignoring both her marred looks and her questions.

"Shut up now girl! I am trying to help you escape!"

She went mercifully silent after that even though a part of him chocked on the naked fear that had gripped his heart at the swiftness of her surrender. His Helena _never _surrendered, at least not this easily.

But in that moment he had more pressing concerns that the apparent change of personality, like the sturdiness of the bonds keeping the girl firmly chained to the wall of her cell.

"Damn! I am never going to be able to free you from these…"

He knew they were doomed, his skills at lock picking, if they ever existed had never really comprised the knowledge needed to break these locks, and for all of his power he really was the most pathetic of the Gold Saints, with no practical skills or destructive powers.

But of one thing he was certain: he wasn't going to abandon her here to her destiny. If they were to die in that dingy cell they were going to do it together, him in front of her, in a last desperate attempt at protection.

Lost in these thoughts he took a moment to notice that the air in the dungeon had chilled somewhat and that a faint sheen of ice had started to cover everything.

"_Ma che diavolo…_"

"Not now Death Mask! We'll talk later of the fact that you decided to come here _alone_ without telling any of us about the fact you had found Helena! For now stand back and let me break the locks. Once we are safe we'll talk!"

"Camus?! What are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?"

"I followed you, idiotic crab. We were all worried about you! So when you didn't come back last night, and Dite had the mother of all fits, I knew that something had happened, something big, because you are many things Mask, but you are not an oath-breaker and you had promised both Aphrodite and Nathair to come back…Shura and even Saga are out here with me…"

Saga and Shura? What? Had the world started spinning out of control? How was it possible that the coldest, the grumpiest and the craziest Saints of all Sanctuary where outside the Fourth House, having followed him around because they had been worried about him?

Apparently he had voiced that particular thought out loud because with a smirk Camus answered him.

"Dying together for a common cause, thrice I may add, adds a certain _perspective_ to your life and to how you look at you companions. I, we, have seen you at your worst – and believe me those heads on your walls were the most disgusting thing I have ever seen – but we have also seen you pass through fire, and us with you, to redeem yourself, to finally do the right thing, the honourable thing. And that Death Mask, that sentiment creates bonds, strong ones. We may not be blood related, but I consider you one of my shield-brothers. Our bond is not forged in affection and peace but in blood and sacrifice and for that it's even more precious. And I think, no I _know_, that the others feel the same way. You are our brother and Helena is our little sister, our to protect, our to love, our to save. Please, _please_, Death Mask, don't shun us out, we might surprise you…"

Damn whoever thought that the ice warrior in front of him didn't have feelings! His words had finally cut open a wound left alone for too much time to fester and in cutting it open they had already started to heal it. How he had longed for a family. For that sense of belonging, of acceptance that came from having brothers.

But he wasn't going to cry. Oh no! He had already lost part of his pride with his mouth hanging open in what could have passed for a lifelike impression of a dead fish…no more!

"Are you quite done? Yes? Good, because in case you haven't noticed we are on a tight schedule here…so let's move… _frate_!"

The Aquarius Saint had been ready to freeze the ungrateful idiot in that cell when he had heard the last word, whispered, somehow fearfully in the dark. _Frate_, brother in the Cancer Saint's mother tongue. He could let him have his illusions, after all, that was exactly what brothers were there for!

The terse sound of ice cracking had him look down at the chains and at the girl entrapped in them and, much like Death Mask before, he felt his heart crack at the sight.

"Helena?"

"Oh, I suppose you are his friend then…I don't know you and I definitely don't know who is this Helena, but if you free me I'll be much obliged!"

"But…"

"Not now ice-man! She apparently doesn't remember anything and even her appearance doesn't really match, but I know it's her, so the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we solve the mystery!"

Not one to deny the pull of logic, even when it came from one of the most unlikely sources possible, the Ice Master broke the last of the bond and stood back, allowing his companion easy access to pick up the girl. After all if she had chosen to live with him on a semi-permanent basis, he was definitely the most suited to the task, plus he needed both hands to use his attacks.

"C'mon, follow me then! We'll try another exit, hoping they haven't got that covered yet!"

Nodding his acceptance at the plan – really where this logical Death Mask had come from? – he quickly followed the shorter man down the corridor and into what looked like a niche in the wall.

Before he had the time to really protest the fact they were going _into the fucking wall_, the niche revealed itself to be a secret passage of sorts.

From then on he was graced with far more images of Hell that he would ever be confortable with and not for the first time he asked himself how the Cancer Saint could really manage to stay in that house and his respect for the man rose again.

In the meantime the object of the Aquarius musings was lost into musings of his own, regarding the small – _too small_! a voice in his head screamed – girl in his arms.

Apart from the initial question about his person, this girl – he so wanted to call her Helena, but somehow he had a nasty feeling that she really wasn't _his_ Helena – had said nothing at all, while been manhandled by two complete strangers who had taken the scenery route coasting Hell. There had been no sparking of recognition in those bloody red eyes – so familiar because so similar to his own, yet so foreign at the same time – and all in all there had been no spark of anything at all in those orbs. Like a puppet whose strings had been cut she had folded on herself and let somebody else take her. And wasn't that a frightening thought.

Finally the route took a sharp right and they stood in front of a small door, outside of which they could see the gleaming light of the moon.

With a nod to his companion Death Mask sprinted towards the exit, all the while praying Athena and every other deity he knew of, that nothing and no one was out there, waiting for them.

"Well, well, well…what do we have here…a bunch of traitors! For once in your life Manigoldo you were right! These conniving bastards were in on the plan from the start! I knew our Goddess was too trusting for her own good…"

And of course his bad luck had decided to manifest yet again here and with the worst possible form: Kardia of Scorpio was a sadistic bastard, one crazy enough to search for the ultimate enemy, the one to fire his heart to the ultimate state. And if the whimpering from the girl in his arms was any indication, she had already met the sadistic bastard and he had left her quite an impression. And not of the good kind.

Judging from the blast of icy air at his back, the green glow of the sacred sword and the tell tale sign of galaxies exploding, he wasn't the only one who had reached that conclusion.

"Move away Scorpio before I decide to grace the Lord of the Underworld with your presence, and believe me, for what you have done to Helena, you won't find a single Judge very forgiving…"

"For what he had done to _that_ pathetic excuse of a human being? Oh c'mon! I had thought you were more intelligent than that, but apparently I have reincarnated in a complete idiot…what a pity!"

Oh yes…that corner of Hell was beginning to be shaped like Manigoldo all right!

"Let her go Cancer or you'll taste my sword!"

"Your sword?! You pathetic goat! What do you think that rusty sword can really do against one who controls the dead?"

Had he really been _that _stupid? Death Mask knew he had done a lot of idiocies in his life, but to insult Excalibur? No, he wasn't that suicidal…_yet_.

Moving quickly the young Cancer Saint had positioned himself right in front of Shura, hand closed in a fist, finger ready to send the souls to the Underworld.

"ENOUGH! Stop it! All of you! Stop your fighting! She _needs _help!"

At Sara's words Death Mask looked down into his arms and true enough the night's events had caught up to the girl who had fainted on him…wait…no…it couldn't be!

"She is not breathing!"

"I have seen her soul at the Mouth of Hades!"

The panicked yells had everyone jolting into action, even Kardia and Manigoldo whose orders where to keep the girl alive.

"ANOTHER DIMENSION!"

The black portal materialized in front of Death Mask and without prompting the silver haired warrior jumped inside, implicitly trusting his…brother…to take them where they needed to go.

"Quickly all of you! Follow him!"

The next thing he knew was a blinding light and a deafening noise like a million voices all talking together; but he had one goal, one person to find in that multitude and when his blood red eyes locked with the emeraldine ones he was looking for, all he could say was:

"Save her Athena! Save her…"


	10. Un compromessovantaggioso

The world abruptly shifted into focus.

Whoever had said that coming back to awareness was a slow and self adjusting process either had never experienced the sensation or he had deluded himself somehow.

"You gave us quite a scare you know? Death Mask says that he is thankful that he already has silver hair or you would have given them to him last night…"

Death Mask…the name was familiar…ah yes, the man with the aforementioned silver hair and strikingly red eyes that had somehow materialized in her cell and freed her. But, even though she knew she had never seen the man before, he, or at least his name, had been achingly familiar.

As familiar as the woman in front of her in that very moment. Long, flowing violet hair and very green eyes, clothed in a white dress that left nothing to the imagination. She knew she had seen her somewhere…

"Athena?"

"You remember me Helena? Do you know my name?"

The hopeful face was almost too much to disappoint but she knew she had to.

"I know you are Athena, I have seen you when I have tried to kill you. You should know that…why are you here? With me? Alone? And who is this Helena? Because that's certainly not me…I am not called Helena…in fact I don't have a name…I am Ophiucus the Fallen…"

The shattered look of dashed hopes was swiftly replaced with a positive murdering expression, that somehow wasn't really directed at her.

"You are _not_ Fallen, Ophiucus! And I am here, with you, alone, because I _trust_ you! I am not the one you tried to kill – I am a different incarnation but those details will have to wait – and even if I were I would never abandon you or condemn you to death because even if you don't remember me, don't remember us, you are my _best friend_ and we are a family!"

The girl was a little out of breath at the end of her tirade and she realized, with a sheepish smile, that she had ended up yelling right into the healing girl's face.

"Ups…sorry! I got a little carried away! I know you don't remember being Helena, maybe you are right and you really are not the girl we are desperately looking for, but I have sensed your soul while I was healing you and you are not evil…yes I know…you tried to kill Athena, but somehow I sense that this was more a retribution for a past offence that had been done against _you_ than a plot to kill the Goddess of Justice, am I right?"

How in the world had this girl known?

"You know?"

Disbelief coloured her voice and panic began to rise from the depth of her soul.

"I know that I have been an idiot, alongside everybody else…I know we have hurt you a long time ago Healer…we have dismissed your knowledge and your good heart and you were the one who had paid the price. It was through no fault of your own that your soul was tainted, twisted enough to transform all the good inside it in bad, all the love in hatred, all the affection in betrayal. When I met Helena, the Ophiucus Saint of the time I come from, I had thought that maybe, just maybe, the damage had been undone by time alone, and that my friendship could erase the rest, but I was wrong again. Even though Helena already forgave everybody for their transgressions against her, a part of her soul, your soul, never forgave and never forgot. And now somebody used that long standing hatred against her, against all of us and one more time she, you, are the innocent victim of this ploy. Forgive me, my friend, for I have failed you…again."

Ophiucus stood in silence after that confession, mind weighting the options and soul searching for a lie in that midst of heart-breaking sobs. But no lies were forthcoming, no manipulation of the truth to entrap him and enslave him once more.

forgive and forget.

He had cultivated that hatred for centuries, biding his time, being bullied, ignored and cast aside for many a lifetime, and in all of that time his hatred had been the only thing keeping him together, alive.

He could not part from it, not so suddenly, not without a guarantee that the things that had come to pass where not going to pass again.

"I cannot forgive you now, nor I can forget. I have lived with these feelings for so long that I cannot simply shed them like old skin…" And again with that crestfallen look, the girl really had no shame!

"…but, maybe, in time, things will change. I cannot promise you this epic friendship you all seem to have with this mysterious Helena, because I am not her, even though you all seem convinced of the contrary. But I can promise I will not kill you…_yet_…I promise to let you make your amends, and then decide if my soul is satisfied or if it requires your blood, Athena. Do we have a compromise?"

"We do. I knew I couldn't expect your forgiveness Ophiucus, but the fact you are willing to give us a chance means more to me than you will ever imagine. We, I, won't disappoint you again my friend. And as for our missing friend, I know you are not her, but the others might have difficulty in conceiving that fact. They all miss her dearly, you know. So, please, don't shun them away, they might be overbearing, but they are good souls deep down!"

Bowing her head in acceptance the girl thought that concessions had to be made if a compromise was to be struck, so if her concession was to have people looking out for her, well maybe for once she hadn't drawn the shortest stick.

"Well, if you are up to it, there is one person who would very much like to see you…and no, before you refuse, she isn't one of my overbearing good souls…"

She couldn't mean…

"YOU! YOU IDIOTIC, OVERBEARING, ASININE, SELF-SACRIFICING CRETIN! How could you? EH? How could you decide to give yourself up for me? To suicide yourself in my name? and without even telling me first? ARE YOU COMPLITELY MAD?"

Of all the things she had expected Sara to yell at her for, her sacrificing herself for the young girl hadn't even made the list.

"You are not mad I betrayed you? That I framed you? That I had befriended you just to use you a pawn in my assassination plan?"

"Did you? Did you befriend me just to use me? Was nothing real then?"

"Of course not! I admit I started out our friendship because Leandro said you were powerful enough to grant us access to Sanctuary, and you are very powerful, but as time progressed I…well I really wanted to be your friend, your sister even! I knew that what I was doing to you was wrong…hell I even started to understand that what I was about to do to Athena was wrong, and just because you had managed to break the wall outside my heart! I sacrificed myself and everything I had worked for, for the past decades, just to let you live! I had thought myself content if you had hated me for life, just as long as you were alive! So no, it wasn't a ruse, you are my friend, even if you don't want me to be yours…"

"Oh, stop you useless yapping! You are my friend, my sister even! I was so mad at you, and I had thought I was mad because you had betrayed me, but in reality I was angry that you hadn't confided in me, and scared that you were going to your death and I couldn't do anything about it!"

And at that, the Snake Master could only gape at his young charge with his mouth hanging open.

"Well then…if that's solved, we have more pressing matters to address: like, when do I start training with you?"

"What? You want to train under me? I don't really know if I am allowed to move…and why do you want to train with me? I am sure there are other Saints, even Gold ones, more qualified than I am…"

Sara waved her hand through the air with an air on nonchalance.

"Sure, there are…but you _are_ a Gold Saint, you have a very powerful Cosmo, and I have already begin training under you…so I don't see the problem. Plus I really cannot stand all the others Gold Saints of this time, and the ones from another time have categorically refused to train me, saying something about time ripples or such…"

The convalescent girl looked helplessly at Athena, hoping she could dismiss such a ludicrous fantasy, but to no avail.

"I think it's a very good idea! I, for once, will not object to it, and I am pretty sure this time's Athena won't either! Good! That's settled then!"

Too chocked up to really express her thoughts the Fallen simply shook her head in fondness and gave a slight nod at her pupil.

"Good, now that is settled there is a small matter to solve before we start: you are adamant you are _not_ Helena, and I believe you, but we cannot call you Ophiucus the Fallen since it's a mouthful, so what is your name?"

Silence, the only answer she could really give. She might have had a name at the beginning, before becoming the vessel of the Snake Master, but she had long forgotten it.

"Oh… you don't know…no problem then! You'll get a new one! What about…"

She braced herself, expecting any kind of ridiculous names thrown at her when she heard the suggestion and she instantly loved it.

"Yes, I will be Phi!"

And at that the Goddess beamed, such a sunny smile that Phi privately thought it could illuminate the darkness.

"Oh, one last thing: what happened to Leandro and his small band of assassins?"

"…"

"I had thought that the silver haired guy was scary, but not as scary as the effeminate one! I don't think that anything is left of them…"

"Oh…"

"Oh yes, my dear Phi…Aphrodite can be very scary indeed!"


	11. Una rosa al profumo di lillà

Aphrodite wasn't scary or, at least, he didn't think he was. He thought of himself as a charming and fashionable fellow whose only questionable choice had been the one he had made regarding his current boyfriend who couldn't be more crass if he tried. He had tried to brush off his infatuation ad a by-product of too much alcohol, but years later they were still together so the Pisces Saint knew there had to be something else to bind them together.

Helena had once mentioned the word _love_, but both men didn't want to admit they cared for each other that much. Aphrodite knew that Death Mask had loved a very small amount of people in his life and had protected, or tried to, them with a fierce spirit – what had happened in the aftermath of Helena's disappearance and sudden reappearance had been instructive for all of them – but instead of being assured of this, he was afraid. Afraid to be one of those few people, afraid of what it meant, afraid of what he himself could do if Death Mask was taken.

He was even afraid of himself, of what he could become if those he loved were threatened. He had cared for little Helena even before the Twelve Houses debacle, but the fierceness he had experienced after his resurrection had somewhat blindsided him.

He was a beauty lover, a perfection seeker; all of his attacks were designed to strike from afar, without gutting his enemy. Poison was, after all, such a noble way to die. But when he had come across the man that had lead to Helena's last imprisonment, something in him had snapped. He knew that those men were not responsible for Helena's initial abduction nor for her change in personality, but he had needed a release and they had provided the perfect target for some of his most _unsavoury_ attacks.

If his actions had made his fellow Gold Saints look at him with a newfound respect for his roses, he was certainty not going to complain about it. Still, blood was so cumbersome to get rid of…

"You missed a spot…"

He _did not_ jump three feet in the air releasing a very feminine shriek.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…I had thought you had heard me approaching. But since you are not the first who doesn't hear me approaching I'm starting to think that I cannot make noises even if I try."  
No, she couldn't. Or at least Helena could not. They had discovered that particular trait when she had caught him and Death Mask with their pants off. Quite literally.

But this girl was not Helena, and that much was very clear. Even if all of them had desperately wanted to believe they had found the missing woman, this girl with white hair and red eyes was not her. But, at the same time, she was.

Aphrodite could not explain it, but the best he could come up with was that the girl, Phi, was like a rose that smelt like a lily. Death Mask had understood and even the two Gemini. The former had sensed something familiar within Phi's soul, and the other two were very knowledgeable with the subtle differences of two people bearing the same face but different souls.

The Pisces Saint could not explain it, but he had the same sensations around Nathair as well. The little girl was something else, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"It's ok, I didn't hear you approach. If it's any consolation, I think it's a characteristic trait of the Ophiucus Saint, not making any noises I mean. Something about snakes, I can presume…"

"Actually you are right…but I should be able to control it, like any other ability I have. Not being able to do so, it's eerie…"

He waved away her concerns with a swift motion of his hand. After all she wasn't the only one who couldn't really control all of her abilities, if the constant rose perfume he was wearing was any indication. Even the high and mighty Camus always projected this cold air around him so…

"So…what brings you out here? I did not peg you for a flower sort of woman…"

That last comment caused the girl to still the hand she was extending towards a rose – they weren't in his garden, and not even in the Twelfth House one, but he could make do with a patch of grass – and he inwardly berated himself for his thoughtlessness.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…

"No, it's ok! I…well…it's unusual even for me…I have never had any inclination for flowers before now and certainly the Snake Master never showed any predilection for them, but somehow these roses call to me…I cannot really explain it…sorry you must think me mad!"

He softly inclined his head to negate the thought. He didn't think her mad, but that longing had sparked something in his heart, a phrase long forgotten, uttered by a young girl so many years ago.

_"__I am not afraid Aphrodite, neither of you nor of your roses. Somehow the flowers call to my soul and I know you'll keep me safe."_

He had scoffed at that useless sentiment and he had told her not to underestimate him, that he could be vicious and ruthless if he wanted to, and had proceeded to demonstrate his point by attacking her at point blank range. But in the end she had been right, he hadn't been able to deliver the final blow.

He hadn't killed her, but he had taken her under his wing, he had taught her all he knew, about growing flowers, about the beauty in the Cosmo, about everything he could think of and somehow they had become inseparable. They were less flashy than Helena with Death Mask, but the relationship was just as deep. And he missed her. By Athena he didn't think he could have missed her this much!

"You miss her…"

"Yeah, I do. I never thought I would have missed her this much, but somehow she has gotten under my skin, into my heart and her absence is killing me…"

He knew he was projecting his feelings of longing onto the girl and he quickly changed the subject.

"So, really, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to…thank you."

Thank him? For what? Some of his inner questionings must have shown on his face because she hurried to explain.

"For taking care of Leandro and his men. Even though I had chosen him, it was my choice and mine alone to team up with him and do what I did, his death relieves me. And for that I am grateful…"

He was speechless. Truth to be told he had not even taken into consideration the fact that she could have considered those men her comrades, and be saddened of angry about their death.

He had not considered the fact that the girl they had found was not their Helena. The only thing he had seen had been her battered body, caused by the carelessness of that man and he had taken the measures he had thought necessary.

But since she didn't appear angry, he thought unnecessary to voice those thoughts so he simply inclined his head in acknowledgment of her thanks.

He had thought she was going to away now that she had performed her self-appointed task, but the girl made no motion to move from her spot in his garden and his opinion of her rose a couple of points.

He knew she was not Helena, despite the amount of wishful thinking all of them had displayed in the past days, but that didn't mean she wasn't worthy of his time.

Having decided he rose from his position and approached her.

"So…do you want to know more about roses?"

In the distance two very similar young women smiled at the picture in front of them.

"May we finally see the day in which all of the past hurt is healed in Ophiucus' soul and our grievous mistakes finally forgiven, my dear Saori. The Healer deserves that."

"I can only pray you are right Sasha. And hopefully when those hurts have been healed the Snake Master will give back my sister…"

Unbeknownst to both the couple in the rose garden and the two reincarnations of the Goddess, another pair of eyes was looking down at the scene, smiling.

The little girl's pointed teeth glinted in the sunlight and Nathair's smile widened when Aphrodite guided Phi's hand onto a rose.

Maybe, finally, the Snake Master could let go of his hatred and see that the other constellations and the Goddess were really sorry and willing to make amends.

If he could see that, he could finally move forward and express the true potential of the Ophiucus Constellation.

Nathair could not wait for that to happen.


	12. Dopo la calma, la tempesta

Weeks passed and things slowly started to change between the people in the two groups. While still regarding each other with a healthy dose of suspicion the ice had started to thaw between the XVIII century Gold Saints and their modern incarnations.

One point still stood between them and it was Phi. The girl, while having taken a shining to the modern Gold Saints, seemed to hate with a vengeance their pre-incarnations. She didn't want to do anything with them and she tended to avoid breathing the same air if that was possible.

Her training with young Sara was a sore spot of discussion mostly because Manigoldo and Kardia were so wary of her that had tried more than once to attack them while they were training. Not that she could not take them on with her eyes closed, but still she would have felt better if they ceased their futile attempts.

In spite of the added complications, though, Sara proved to be an excellent pupil. She was gifted and within weeks of rigorous training she had mastered a level of Cosmo befitting a Gold Saint, the second of the sore points of discussions.

The Snake Master had the sinking suspicion she knew which Cloth her young pupil was destined to, but since even thinking about that left with a devastating migraine she decided to let things play out and hope for the best.

She had started to appreciate her new life, had started to see the caring young men underneath the golden armour like the future Athena had told her.

She genuinely liked both Aphrodite and Death Mask whose presence around her was a constant balm on her aching soul. But her happiness around them was more often than not marred by the semi-constant presence of the little girl that followed the modern Gold Saints around like a small duckling.

Nathair had taken to the Underworld like a fish to water. It was normal to spot her with Death Mask, and even more common occurrence to see them perched on top of the massive wings of the Garuda, or laughing at the Gryphon's puppet shows, or even sipping tea with the monolithic Wyvern.

Where any other girl would have run away screaming from the constant dead aura surrounding the four men – and even Phi, who had seen more than her share of death was chilled out by the sheer intensity of it – Nathair seemed unfazed by it, laughing and playing with them like they weren't the Infernal Judges.

But what was worse was the fact that Phi had the impression that Nathair concealed more than she let on, that the little girl was a disguised of something more sinister, something that was going to be their ruin.

She had caught more than once the girl staring at her, a secretive smile on the small lips and a calculating look at odds with her young and innocent face.

But all in all things seemed to be going well even though Saori and her Saints worried about their prolonged presence in the past and absence of their young sister.

And it was exactly in the middle of that peace that tragedy struck, catching them completely unprepared like it always happens in these cases.

They had come out of nowhere, their cosmos suddenly blazing into existence bright, powerful and dangerous.

The guards had been taken by surprise, but even if they hadn't they would have been no match against the powerful soldiers that slaughtered them.

They had swarmed the Arena trapping trainees and Saints all together like cattle and it was then that Phi had the chance to properly look at them for the first time.

They were wearing full body armour, more like the Surplices of the Infernal Judges than the Cloths of Athena's Saints but the colour was a rich royal purple instead of pitch black.

They were all donning a full mask that covered all of their faces and those masks seemed to come from the worst nightmares. Beastly faces sneering, fangs and scales, they rendered the soldiers scary to look at.

They were all equipped with an arm shield with the portrait of a winged woman with long flowing hair. A woman that Phi was sure she had seen somewhere else.

It had been Manigoldo and Kardia who had started the attack and also the first ones to fall under the staggering powers of their enemies cosmos.

All of their comrades had followed suit both in the attack and in the subsequent fall and they were now being protected by their Athena's barrier.

Phi had pushed Sara in one corner, partially protected from the attacks and, after extracting the promise of not participating in the battle unless really necessary, she had joined the modern Gold Saints who were trying to build a solid strategy before attacking.

She would never learn what would have been the best plan of attack because she found herself flying backwards before having had the chance to charge her attacks.

While her body hit the rocky terrain of the Arena her mind finally remembered where she had seen the woman on the shield. She didn't have the time to dwell on it because after getting back up she was forced to fight for her life. Their enemies' attacks were brutal, relentless and they were soon overpowered. Half of the trainees laid dead in the dirt and the other half were too wounded to be of any help and they risked death as well if not treated properly soon.

The thirteen modern Gold Saints and the three Infernal Judges were a bit better due to their heightened strength but she could see their fatigue and their wounds, they were not going to last for long without help.

If only she had her Cloth…

The thought came to her unbidden. She was supposed to hate them, not try to save them.

They had had betrayed her, left her for dead, belittled her knowledge and expertise. They weren't worthy of her affection. But watching them fall, one after the other, shoulder to shoulder like brothers forged in battles, each of them shielding the others and enhancing their particular skills, she felt her heart break.

She was so busy looking at them that she completely missed the purple lighting directed at her until it was too late to do anything but hope to survive.

She had closed her eyes, waiting for the hit to strike, but the pain she was expecting never came. A grunt forced her to open her eyes and what she saw she knew would haunt her for eternity.

She saw, like in slow motion, the wall of roses exploding around her disintegrating to dust from the force of the hit. But it wasn't that wall that had shielded her. She saw light blue hair and gold armour and soft smile and kind and loving eyes before Pisces no Aphrodite crumpled on himself, back plate of his Cloth destroyed by the force of the impact.

She felt like underwater, struggling to reach him, to break his fall while, all around them his companions yelled his name.

She heard screaming and it took her a while to register that she was the one doing the screaming.

After what seemed an eternity she finally got to him and with trembling hands she turned his broken body around gently, stifling a sob when she looked into his scarred face.

"Am I this ugly _mein leibling_? Why are you crying?"

"You stupid fish! How could you do it? Why did you save me?"

"I have already lost a sister, dear one, I wasn't about to lose another, if I could help it…"

His blood was flowing out of his body way too fast, leaving him pale and cold. She stifled another sob when she realized he was not going to make it, that he had chosen to die so that she could live and she envied Helena again, because of the love and loyalty she had gained from these young men.

"I am not worthy of your life Aphrodite! Why did you sacrifice your life for mine? Why loose your love for my ancient hatred? I have given you no reasons to love me enough to sacrifice yourself for me so WHY?"

"Oh sweet Phi, you really don't see it, do you? You are like a beautiful rose, full of thorns yes, but no less worthy of love and acceptance…"

"Aphrodite…"

She couldn't stop crying because his breaths were becoming shallower by the second.

"Please…tell…tell…M—ask…I lo-…love…hi…"

She felt more than see him stiffen in his last breath and the broken wail of Death Mask only confirmed what she had already known: Pisces no Aphrodite was no more.

She cradled his body while broken sobs racked her small form and his companions led one last, hopeless charge against their enemies.

She saw them fall, too weary and tired to stand up again and for the first time she cursed the hatred she had harboured for all of those long centuries, the hatred that had led her in that life to be stripped of her cloth, rendering her useless in a battle like this.

"If you had the chance to save him, save them, would you take it?"

It was a testament of her despair that she didn't react to the voice that had suddenly materialized beside her.

Nathair's petite body was battered, like she had been sent into a wall but a powerful force and judging from the carnage it was probably exactly what it had happened.

But, somehow, the little girl had subtly changed. Gone was the playful innocence and the easy, almost naïve, demeanour.

Her eyes had a glint of steel in them and her mouth was set into a firm line that spoke of a maturity beyond her age.

"Who are you? You are not Nathair!"

"There is no time now for pleasantries! Do you want to save them?"

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"Fine! You stubborn creature! I am you! I am the part of you that makes you human, oh Snake Master! I am Heleiana!"

What?! The girl they had all been pining for had always been with them and no one had even suspected it!

The girl must have sensed her inner monologue because she lightly chuckled and proceeded to explain a little better.

"Do you remember the voice you heard in your head in your time in prison? It was me. You know perfectly well who has sent us here and why. I am you and together we are the two part of the soul of Ophiucus no Heleiana, the missing Gold Saint. When Leandro's henchmen had knifed you my part of the soul got separated from yours and I had despaired for your redemption. I have always known of you hatred, of your negative sentiments towards them. In all of our years together I have always tried to let you see their souls, their affections towards me, towards us. I had hoped that seeing them love us, you would have let go of your hatred but, as the years passed nothing they did ever changed your feelings. Nothing, until now. In the very moment in which Dite's life was no more, something in your heart shifted. For the first time in forever, your desire for your Cloth was dictated by more than vengeance. For the first time in forever you _wanted_ to protect somebody else, and not just anybody, but one of the very same people that betrayed you. You wanted to protect _all_ of them! So I'll ask again: _if you had the chance to save him, save them, would you take it?_"

If she had the chance to save them, would she take it…that was the very core of everything. Would the Snake Master really choose to save them? They were dead already, and if not their lives weren't going to be much longer, so the revenge she had been craving for centuries wasn't long in coming and she really didn't need to even lift a finger. But the little girl had been right, in the last months something has shifted and, for the first time in forever, she asked herself if she really wanted them dead.

And the answer was no!

But how was she going to let go of her hatred, how was she going to keep going without what had become such a big part of her life. If she didn't hate them anymore, what was she going to do?

"You'll love them! Believe me, once you have given them a chance, they are not that difficult to love! Plus, if you are really worried about the fact that you won't hate them anymore, let me tell you something: you will still do! Some day, some one will do something stupid and you'll think _what am I doing here?_ And you'll hate them but, this time, it won't be permanent! So, what do you say? Will you take that chance?"

"If I take that chance I will need to reabsorb you, I will become Helena again and Phi will be forgotten, so why do I need to sacrifice me again for them?"

"Because you will not be forgotten my dear Ophiucus! Just like the others aren't forgotten! You will live in me and I will live in you. They have always loved you as well, it simply took you longer than me to realize that fact…"

The Snake Master supposed his host was right. The other Constellations weren't forgotten, their hosts didn't destroy them and if he was honest, his own host had never really over-shadowed him. His own hatred and heart-ache had blinded him so much that he had started seeing enemies where there were only friends.

And his friends had done everything in their power to make amends, to try and get past that _mistake_ – he could see it now, how such a thing had only been a mistake – and to rekindle their friendship with him. He knew now that, in the very moment in which Aphrodite had shielded him, it hadn't been _just_ him to make that jump. He had seen a glimpse of the very first Pisces Saint, his _friend_, and the same could be said for the others. Helena was right! It was time to stop running from his friends and to start fighting for them again!

"Ok little girl! You have convinced me! What do we do now?"


	13. Insieme di nuovo

In the end, it turned out, things were much simpler than anticipated, like it always happens in these cases.

There had been no need for fancy spells, long forgotten words or incomprehensible and vaguely irritating hand gestures.

It had been as simple as closing their eyes and touching their hands and when she opened her lilac orbs again, the world had finally shifted back to its proper place.

\- Stop admiring the view girl and get a move on! I didn't accept this merging so that you could fail to save them! –

Grinning lightly to herself the black haired girl answered the ethereal being that had just appeared to her right: - I have always knew you cared my dear Ophiucus! I just needed to find out the right reason to make you show it! –

The hissing sound to her right told her to stop pushing her constellation's buttons if she didn't want to become the umpteenth victim of his rage.

Quickly scanning the area she swallowed a boatload of curses – all of them courtesy of Death Mask, who she was going to berate fully when she had finally managed to save his sorry ass – when she took in the desperate – and that was an euphemism – situation in which they were all in.

On her far left, still protected by a weakening barrier, laid the past Gold Saints, no match for their current enemies even when in peak conditions and, for the moment, not her main priority.

On her right there was another godly barrier, this time far more familiar. Amidst the chaos and the dust she saw Saori, standing tall and proud in front of her Saints, last line of defence for her family. She saw her taking a couple of hits and the way she listed to her side, before standing back up again, told both Helena and the Snake Master, that they needed to hurry, if they wanted to save them.

But the couple knew they had to do one thing before everything else.

Quickly kneeling back down, Helena had to fight the urge to puke when her eyes landed on the broken form of one of her brothers. She had always tried to make him see that not everything revolved around outer beauty, that the other Gold Saints didn't really care if his hair had been conditioned or not. But Aphrodite had always resisted her logic and in time she had stopped trying to change him, and started caring for him the way he was. To know that he had finally stopped caring about appearances to save her life was…humbling and heart breaking.

\- We will get him back girl! And when we do you can personally send his gorgeous behind into the Underworld! Oh, and you can actually send him together with the silver haired one…maybe this will finally shake them out of their comfort zone enough to admit what we always knew: they love each other and they have loved each other since the dawn of time. The day in which they will finally admit it will never come too soon! –

This new and improved side of her constellation was a bit of a shocker, but all things considered Helena thought she could have landed with a worse one; she still couldn't talk to the Gemini constellation without a headache and the boisterous nature of Taurus always left her gasping for breath.

A hissing laughter shook her out of her thoughts and, after one last glance at Dite's battered yet peaceful face, she activated one of her less used but more powerful powers. In the blink of an eye the majority of the damages that Dite's body had suffered had been healed and, after a faint push of Cosmo, even a laboured rise and fall of his chest could be seen.

He wasn't out of the woods yet, Helena knew she didn't have the time to heal him properly, but what she had managed to heal – and the life she had breathed in him – would tide him over until she had a proper chance to look at him. Or at least so she hoped. She knew the strength of their enemies and she also knew that, without backup what she had managed to do for Aphrodite would likely be in vain.

Nevertheless, she had to try!

\- Plan small things girl, nothing too big. Small steps, don't look too ahead or you'll loose your head! –

She knew the Snake Master was right, but that didn't mean it was an easy task. Steeling herself she was suddenly jolted out of her reverie when a very familiar scream pierced the air.

Less than ten seconds later she saw the barrier exploding in a million lights and Saori hitting the harsh floor of the Arena. Her Goddess was down and her family was in danger.

Not even stopping to think she acted on instinct, her experience mixing with her constellation's and in a flash of gold her Cloth finally materialized.

If she could have taken a moment she would have stopped to admire the fine carvings on her breastplate – which mercifully covered all of her torso, instead than just her breasts – the small but deadly snakes protruding from her armguards, the sleek line of her leg guards, but she didn't have the time to do so, not with her brothers and sister in the line of fire.

With a graceful jump she landed in front of them and she effortlessly released her Cosmo to create a barrier to replace Athena's one. She was vaguely aware of the fact that also Sasha's barrier had been taken down and she knew she had to fight all of their enemies at once if she wanted to save them.

She had her goal now, the only thing missing was how she was going to realize it without any help.

She had barely the time to realize that fact that she had to duck when a sudden burst of energy came at her from behind directed, not towards her family, but towards those enemies who were getting too close for comfort.

"Did you miss me?"

"Sara?! What are you doing here? You should be hiding!"

"Don't tell me I should be hiding Phi! Wait…what happened to you? You are not Phi!"

"No shit Sherlock! Your powers of deduction are astounding! I am Helena…Ophiucus no Heleiana!"

"You are Heleiana?! After all this time you just pop up like nothing has happened at all? Like they haven't been pining over you for the past month and a half, and where the hell is Phi?"

\- She talks too much! Can we eliminate her? –

\- I don't think it's a good idea…you are aware of the fact that she is your host in this century right? –

\- Don't remind me…-

"Sara, as much as I would like to stay and chat, we have a bigger problem now! So could you do me a favour and stand back?"

"What is it with you Gold Saints and you protective instincts! I can and I _will_ fight with you! Plus it's not like you can't use the help right? And I still need to find Phi!"

Helena knew she had to send her away for her protection, but she also knew that she couldn't afford to lose this battle and, having personally trained the girl, she knew her to be more asset than hindrance, still…

"Ok, fine, you win! I need all the help I can get to get everyone to safety, but you will not endanger your life needlessly ok? You will stay here and create a barrier that will cover my family and the other Gold Saints and you will not move from this spot ok?"

"But…"

"No buts Sara! I have trained you and you have shown remarkable potential, but you haven't mastered all your techniques and, most importantly, you don't have a Cloth! So you are staying here and that's final! And, by the way, I am Phi! Or better yet, Phi is a part of me…"

She knew that wasn't the best explanation she could give, but they didn't have much time and what she was about to do required all of her power and concentration and a very good dose of luck.

Wishing she could rely on a more "experienced" strategy she quickly made her way towards the main part of the Arena, where she had seen most of the rubble.

She needed a vantage point for what she was about to do.

When she reached the centre of her makeshift stage she took a deep breath and prayed every deity she knew that what she was about to do didn't cost her the lives of the very same people she wanted to protect.

\- It will be alright girl! You'll see…-

\- First, would it kill you to call me by my given name? Second have you realized that it has been centuries since you have used this particular attack? And the last time you did that you basically wiped out an entire town? –

\- You worry too much…Helena. If you are that scared to use that attack you can always relinquish your body to me…-

\- Not a chance scaly! You are not to take my body hostage again ok? I will do what needs to be done! –

-Suit yourself then!-

Grumbling about idiotic constellations Helena stood to her full height and pointed her hands skyward.

She closed her eyes and brought forward every sad feeling she had ever experienced, every hurt, every breakup, every betrayal.

She remembered the pain in her heart each time Death Mask killed an innocent soul, every time Aphrodite said something unflattering or downright rude.

The heartbreak when they had died and the absolute devastation when they had come back as traitors.

She put all that and all of Ophiucus' feelings in her Cosmo and when the maelstrom looked about ready to burst she released it, opening her eyes.

"HATE OF THE HEALER!"

A blinding light burst from her fingertips, enveloping everything and everyone in its path. She felt, more than heard, their enemies Cosmo and life drain away, engulfed in an ocean of hatred and sadness and every black feeling she had ever experienced.

While her Cosmo decreased, taken by the force of the attack, she stood there, in her Gold Cloth, long hair billowing in the storm she had created, all the while praying that, this time, she wasn't going to be the only survivor.


	14. Ritorno al mondo dei vivi

"It's good that one of you finally deigns himself to re-join the land of the living! I thought you wanted me to live the rest of my life miserable and alone!"

The sarcastic voice, young and lilting like water flowing on rocks, cut through the fog in his mind like a hot knife in the butter.

Where was he? And more importantly, why did everything hurt like he had been put in the washing machine?

"Maybe this will teach you to stay behind the damn barrier next time, instead of running ahead of everybody else trying to protect them! Won't it, Saga?"

It was the way the voice said his name that finally manage to shock him enough outside his stupor. He knew that voice! He could have identified the owner even through time and space!

"Helena?!"

His own voice was rasping and pathetically weak and he couldn't disguise the tidal wave of hope that had chocked that simple name inside his throat.

After all, if everything he remembered was true, they had all fought in a terrible battle and even all of them together, fighting like the brothers they were, hadn't been enough to defeat the enemies. He was sure they were dead and so this meant Helena was dead as well…no, that thought couldn't bear thinking! Not sweet, young, innocent Helena! She more that anybody deserved to live a long a prosperous life!

"I am not dead Saga! And neither are you…"

"Ho..how is that possible? I saw Aphrodite…"

"It would be best if you opened your eyes Saga. You might even like what you see…"

Open his eyes…the mere thought felt like lead in his mind, but he struggled to obey that voice. He knew he had to give her that much, he had taken everything else away from her, this he had to do!

He felt a small hand on his cheek and Helena's soft voice humming a soothing tone, to comfort him. He, who didn't really deserve her affection, her trust, her care.

"Don't be silly Saga! What you have done wasn't your fault, at least not completely! And we have all forgiven you, me most of all! So, now just take your time and open your beautiful eyes for me, will you?"

How could anyone deny anything to such a sweet little girl. He was a Saint of Athena, he had to do it!

Finally, what could have been 30 minutes but in reality were 30 seconds later, he managed to crack one eye open. Bright white light blinded him almost immediately but he managed to get a glimpse of silky jet black hair and that was enough for him to forcibly open both eyes, despite the blinding whiteness.

"You are alive!"

"I had thought we had already established that my dear Saga! Or should I check your head for hidden traumas that I haven't cured?"

Mouth hanging open like an idiot, the former Gemini Saint could only stare at the young girl in front of him, whose face he hadn't seen in almost four months.

"I mean, you aren't dead? I am not dead? I thought that…I thought you had.."

"You thought I had died right? You thought that my prolonged disappearance meant that I had departed the world of the living. You had all but given up hope, even though I have been right here, beside you, all of this time…am I wrong?"

"What were we supposed to think? You have been gone for months, and then when we thought we had found you, only a shadow of yourself had been given back to us! For a moment I even thought that you had succumbed to your evil side, like I did with Arles, and the mere thought had been almost enough to kill me!"

He hadn't even been aware he had started to yell, and he had moved from his bed until his legs gave away underneath him and he collapsed in Helena's arms.

"Shh, Saga…don't overtax yourself for nothing! I am sorry beloved brother! I never wanted to leave you and I did my best to come back to you as soon as I was able!"

"Wait a second…how did you call me?"

He saw her smiling, a young, innocent and carefree smile that he had missed more than he had ever cared to admit.

"You mean…beloved brother?"

In saying it again she tilted her head to her right, in an adorable gesture that was so typically…

"Nathair? You were Nathair?"

"Yes…I was Nathair, and I was Phi as well. Two faces of the same coin if you want…"

In the blink of an eye he found himself standing up, his Cosmo blazing so bright that any onlooker would have gone blind from the light emitted and he felt, more than see, Helena cowering before him shielding his eyes, trying to protect herself from his wrath.

"You were here? You have always been here and you haven't told us? How could you? Dite was distraught! Mask even more unbearable than usual! Athena hopeless and unsmiling! Each and every one of us mad with worry and grief. Kanon kept thinking he had failed you for weeks after your disappearance! How could you do this to us?"

"How could I do this to you? You of all people Saga, you ask me this? You, the one that knows what it means to have your soul split in two and someone else, someone dark take command, you ask me how could I leave you all here? Did it never occur to you that I never wanted to leave you? That I did everything in my power to come back to you as soon as I was able? Who do you think Nathair was? I was her, or at least the part of me that is human, the one without Cosmo! Don't you dare insinuate that I left you because I wanted to, ever again Gemini no Saga, do you understand me?"

He, the most powerful Gold Saint of Athena, could only nod and spit out a chocked sorry in front of the immense power storm the petite girl in front of him had conjured out of nowhere.

"He..le..na…pleas-e st-o-p! Stop!"

As quickly as the storm came it vanished and he was left alone, completely and utterly bereft and feeling guilty and a complete idiot.

"I'm sorry…"

"I'm sorry sweetie…"

When he finally found the courage to look up his blue-green eyes met lilac ones and he couldn't stop the grin forming on his lips.

"It's been years since we've done something like this, isn't it right Helena?"

"Yeah…I missed it Saga…I missed you…in the past couple of years it felt like you have been avoiding me and I missed our chats, our fights even…you have avoided me less when you were subjected to Arles…why?"

He sighed. He had been dreading this very conversation for years and this, alongside his guilt, had made him avoid the girl in front of him.

"I'm sorry Helena…"

"If you start like this Saga, you'll make me think you have been avoiding me on purpose…"

"You are not going to make this easier for me, won't you Helena? Yes, I have been avoiding you on purpose! But tell me, how could I face you darling? How could I hope for your forgiveness after everything I put you through? After all the things I had taken away from you?"

"Oh Saga…you silly man!"

"No, don't interrupt me Helena! I need to say these things to you…"

"Then go on, beloved brother! I am here and I will listen to whatever you have to say to me!"

"I couldn't face you dear sister, after all I had done! After all I had put you in the care of the worst Saints: neither Death Mask nor Aphrodite were a sterling example of, I don't know, anything apart from deaths and overall disgusting behaviours! I had chosen for you the worst Cloth possible, knowing full well that I was signing your death certificate. I took a loving, innocent girl and I transformed her in a monster, born and bred to do one thing only: kill Athena. My own desire for vengeance brought disgrace and death over you all, but especially on you, darling one…I had been so relieved when Seiya managed to shoot me. I could finally die and atone for my sins! I was happy that you had managed to free yourself from your curse! I was so proud of the woman and the warrior you had become! I knew I could die in peace! But then Hades revived and I knew I had to protect Athena ever way I could so I accepted the bargain. I never expected to be revived and forgiven by Athena, after the ultimate betrayal, but our Goddess is a loving one. I knew she had forgiven me and I was overjoyed when she had revived also my twin brother! I never expected her to give me the role of Pope, but you were all in favour, all so forgiving, and I finally found myself in the family I had always wanted. But, even though I knew it in my heart that you had forgiven me, I could not forgive myself for what I did to you…I stupidly thought that you had forgiven me just because everybody else had done it, but you hadn't meant it! I thought you never wanted me in your life again, but the truth is: it was _me_ I never wanted in _my_ life again! So I decided to shut myself out of your life, to spare you the pain of seeing me everyday. I never thought I would have missed you so much, darling sister! But I kept thinking you were better off if I wasn't in your life so I stayed out, watched you from afar and lived vicariously in your life through my brother. I kidded myself into thinking that I was the one laughing and playing with you, instead of him…I have been an idiot haven't I?"

He had watched her face fall throughout his speech but it was the stone face she was now exhibiting that had him on edge. Would she forgive him? Or would she do exactly what he feared she would do and shut him out of her life forever?

CRACK!

The sickening crunch of his nose breaking reverberated through the empty corridor in which they had retired as not to disturb the other healing Saints.

Gasping for breath he staggered backwards, quite unable to comprehend what had happened. Had Helena really punched him? He couldn't really deny that he didn't deserve it, but somehow he had deluded himself into thinking that Helena would have just smiled at him, like nothing had happened.

"That was for your stupid theory and the pain you have put me through in this past couple of years…"

Then, she waved her hand in the air, next to his face, and he felt the warm tendrils of her Cosmo start mending the broken bones.

"…and this, is to make you believe that I love you, you cretin!"

He couldn't help but smile inwardly: she was still the same innocent and caring girl he had met almost thirteen years prior, when he had gone to investigate a strange power surge outside Sanctuary and he had found himself staring into the most expressive eyes he had ever seen.

The only thing that had changed was the fact that now, that innocent midget had not only the power to destroy the universe, but also the ability to wield it, and a very good punch to match!

"You should stop regretting the things I don't regret my dear Saga! You are right, my childhood, my life, has not been as innocent or as carefree as it might have been if the circumstances had been different, but I don't regret it for a moment! For in the hardships I found the most precious treasure of all: a family! So please, _please_, just stop with this guilt and give me back my beloved brother Saga! Can you?"

"Yeah…I think I can! Plus I have let my brother hog you for far more time than necessary! It is my turn now!"

And with that he opened his arms in which she promptly launched herself, laughing and crying at the same time.

After too short a time she moved out of his embrace.

"I need to go into town to buy some more herbs and medicaments to heal Athena and the others since I cannot rely only on my Cosmo. Would you like to come with me or would you prefer to stay here and guard Athena?"

"My dear, sweet Helena…I think our beloved Goddess will be well protected for the time being, so I would like nothing more than to come to town with you! Plus, at the moment, both of your Guardians are down for the count, so allow me to do my brotherly duty for them and protect you…"

He mentally cursed himself when he saw her face fall at the mention of her fallen Guardians, but she recovered quickly her blinding smile, the one he knew was reserved just for them.

"Then, my dear Pope, onto the town we go!"


	15. Di nuovo insieme

"Would it kill you to smile once in a while Saga? By the look on your face one would think I had taken you into a brothel or a house of ill repute instead than to the herbalist!"

"She was parading around the house half naked, she had very _suspicious _items lying around and she kept making _innuendos_! What was I supposed to think? Plus I didn't like the way she was looking at you, like she wanted to snatch you away!"

"Now, Saga, that's the paranoia talking! Of course she was half naked, could you feel how hot it was in there? With the cauldron on all the time the place felt like an oven! Plus the _suspicious _items you were talking about, happen to be what healers use in this century to heal people, if you'd ever stopped by my house Saga, you would have seen them hanging from my walls! And of course she kept making innuendos! You are soooo fun to embarrass! And you blush like a schoolgirl! Oooh…c'mon Saga! No need to go away in a huff…come here! Pleeeeeeeease!"

The voices kept moving further and further from him and soon he wasn't able to hear anything anymore. But what he had heard had been more than enough! He could recognize that voice anywhere especially after he had waited more than four months to hear it again.

He had to reach her, he couldn't let her drift away from him again. He tried to stand but a scorching pain from his side stopped him. He had been hurt and badly so, but when had that happened? Lowering himself down on the bed again – a bed he did not remember being put in – he tried to think back to what had happened, to what had put him in that bed and…

Oh crap! APHRODITE! Where was he? What happened? He couldn't be dead, no he couldn't be…

Forcing his body to move he frantically searched the room he was into, hoping to find some sort of a clue about what had happened. But what his eyes landed on, left him surprised beyond words.

He was in a giant room that had been transformed into an infirmary and beside him, all in beds of their own and with various degrees of bandages on them, were his companions, his brothers, all sleeping somewhat peacefully. Scanning the beds his heart sank a little when he found the unmoving body of their Goddess in one of them, but he relaxed soon after seeing the steady rise and fall of her chest. Hoping against all odds that his luck would hold he quickly looked at the other beds, and when he found him he knew his heart had definitely stopped in his chest.

He was lying in the bed farther from him, the only one next to an open window overlooking a beautiful garden in full bloom, but he couldn't stop and admire it. Not when on the bed he lied, looking far too pale and still, more corpse-like than alive. His all torso was covered in bandages and he was lying on his stomach, probably as to not upset the wounds he knew he had on his back.

But in this position he couldn't see if the other man was breathing and for an instance he contemplated opening the Sekishiki, just to find out if his soul was in line for the eternal oblivion.

"There is no need for you to go look for his soul, Death Mask isn't it? He is still alive. I got to hand it to you, your healer is very skilled at what she does, anything less and you would be really looking at his soul for a last goodbye."

He had been so deep into his worries for his boyfriend – he was going to have a talk with Aphrodite on this matter, once the other man had regained his senses – that Death Mask hadn't even seen the other man in the room. But now that he had talked his eyes were finally able to focus on his figure and his heart gave a painful lurch in his chest.

For the man in front of him bore such a strong resemblance to his Aphrodite that it was almost impossible to watch.

But what was Pisces no Albafica doing in the room? So close – too close – to Dite's bed for comfort and twirling a red rose in his hand no less.

He couldn't be here to terminate him, right? Fear suddenly gripping him he closed his eyes and prayed to at least have the strength to launch one last attack.

"There is no need for you to attack me Death Mask, for I have no intention of harming my reincarnation. After all, why would anyone decide to murder him or herself is beyond my comprehension…"

Vaguely placated by the words of reassurance he let the blue waves of the Underworld fade in the background, but still kept them close enough to be summoned readily if the other Saint decided to do something funny.

"You are a suspicious old dog Cancer, but that might be a peculiar trait of your constellation since also Manigoldo oozes paranoia even on a good day…"

"And you are a sadistic little princess Pisces, but you don't see me pointing it out so rudely like you have done. So do me a favour and get out of my sight and definitely do not approach Aphrodite again, unless he is the one specifically asking for you! Am I clear?"

"Such a brute you are Death Mask, and all for someone you have loudly proclaimed you do not care about…"

How dare he _presume_ to know anything about him? How dare that overgrown doll insinuate that he didn't care about _his _Aphrodite! His cosmo blazed like a star and from deep within him he found the strength to stand up, hand brought far back, ready to launch his deadliest attack…when, all of a sudden his legs gave away under him and he closed his eyes, waiting for a crashing impact with the floor, one that would probably hurt more his pride than his body.

An impact that never came. He had collapsed, yes, but not on the floor; small but steady hands were slowly caressing his torso, deft fingers barely skipping the surface, as if afraid that a deeper touch would not be welcome. With his eyes still closed he let his own cosmo expand, trying to figure out why his Goddess had seen fit to aid him. But what he felt had his eyes snap open, pupils so wide they almost covered all the red in them, disbelief written in all of his features.

"It cannot be…"

"Albafica, leave us alone now! There will be no more taunting from now on, have I made myself clear?"

The voice had sounded so sure, so powerful, and yet he could not stop the frisson of fear that had taken his heart when he felt the Pisces' cosmo rise to the unspoken challenge.

But it did nothing more than rising. Albafica's voice rang true amidst the silence: "You have made yourself very clear my lady, and do pardon me my _transgression_, but he is simply too easy to rile up…"

High-pitched crystalline laughter rang in the heavy silence around them, suddenly followed by the more masculine tones of the one so similar to his heart. And the, with a last twirl of his poisonous rose, Pisces no Albafica left the room.

"Look at me Death Mask…"

No, he couldn't look at her…he definitely didn't want to look at her! He knew his heart would not bear the thought of her not being there with him, of her being an _hallucination_ of all things.

He heard her sigh, soft hands stopping their fluttering and _why_ did he feel so bereft without her touch? A touch that had been nothing but an illusion from the start?

"Please…look at me…Angelo"

At the mention of _that_ name his entire form stiffened in surprise. His hallucinations never, _never_, called him anything but Death Mask. He didn't like his given name – he always felt a bit cheated whenever he heard it, like he was supposed to be something that in reality he was not – and it had taken him a great deal of time and a very drunken evening to reveal it to the two people he held closer to his heart.

And now, to hear it now, spoken in the soft tone that had always characterized her rendition of his name – like a secret reverently protected from outsiders – was like a jolt through his system.

Did he dare to _hope_? Could it be that the person in front of him was really the one he had been looking for? Had the Gods finally decided to grant him a small miracle?

"It is really me, you know? I am back Mask, and nothing and no one will take me away again, _amato fratello_!"

And with those words his entire world came crumbling down and finally, _finally_ he moved his gaze until it rested on her.

"Helena…"

In any other case he would have been appalled and disgusted by the sheer amount of _feelings_ he had imbued in that lonely word, but in that very moment all he could do was try not to choke on the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

"You are alive! You are here! You are _really_ here!"

And in that moment, forgetting every hurt and bruise he had on his body, he hugged her close and lifted her in the air, like he used to do in the privacy of the Fourth House when she was nothing more than a little girl.

But she wasn't a small girl anymore and the last battle had dealt him more damage than he had anticipated, damage that manifested abruptly when his knees gave away under him in the middle of the spin and both of them crashed on the floor.

"Ouch! Death Mask, are you ok?! Death Mask! Answer me! Are you hurt?!"

He could feel her working herself into a state of panic because of his failed answer, but his emotions chocked him up again.

Knowing he had less than thirty seconds before she descended into madness he tried to put all of his feelings in his Cosmo and he let it lose.

-Stop fretting _piccola_! I was not hurt by the fall, at least no physically, it's only my pride that has taken a bruising, but since you were the only one awake here, I think I can let it go…-

He felt the maelstrom of her Cosmo calm down and her petite body shifting to get as close as possible to him.

He wriggled himself just as much, so as to embrace her fully, the fact that she was that close going a long way to dispel his lingering fears of having talked to an hallucination.

-Do not go away from us, ever again! Do you understand? Nathair and Phi were both nice, but _you are you_! And nothing can change that fact!-

He felt her stiffen in surprise at his revelation and he smirked in her hair; did she really think he hadn't figured it out?

-You knew? How come you didn't say anything? To me, to Dite, to the others? Saga told me you have been even more unbearable than usual, due to my disappearance! Why didn't you tell everyone?-

-Why would I? Tell me why I should have told everybody that Phi and Nathair were the same person: you! If you had wanted them to know, you would have told them, us, yourself, and yet you have kept your silence, even though I know you knew how much we were hurting. You were trying to prove something, and so I figured it out that if I had revealed your secret, I could disrupt your plan…plus I wasn't really sure of my theory, and to face the ugly truth of it not being true would have killed me…-

He felt her go quiet after his admission and he risked a glance down to her, slightly jumping in surprise when he met her eyes instead of the top of her head.

Eyes that were rapidly taking a sheen of tears in them.

Oh crap! Not even five minutes together and he had already made her cry! Aphrodite would have a fit at this!

Oh no no no no no no! She was even shaking! She only shook with sobs if he had been _particularly_ insensitive, and he didn't think he had reached that threshold yet…

But when the sound reached his ears it was not the choking sound of heavy sobs but soft peals of laughter resounded in the air!

"You are the best of best Mask! You know this right? You are my favourite brother!"

And after she had made him blush like a schoolgirl with a crush she then proceeded to hug the living daylights out of him, shaking him from the stupor he had fallen prey to.

"Not that I do not appreciate being considered better than Pretty Princess over there, but what brought this on?"

"You said you didn't want to ruin the plan I had put in motion and you were right! I had a plan in motion, one that had worked even better than I had ever anticipated thanks to your help! You have helped me a great deal in taking Phi under your protection, Mask! I don't think I can ever tell you how much you and Dite have saved my life!"

He didn't really like the path this conversation was taking, and his frown had probably conveyed the message to Helena, who had started to explain.

"I think you understood that Nathair and Phi were two sides of the same coin and that they had to be together in one body to create me, but I think you missed how close I had been to never come back to you completely."

At those words he couldn't help but hug her closer to him, in a futile attempt to shield her from the world.

"Helena…"

"No, let me finish! If I don't say this now, I'll never say it again and you, more than anybody, need to know this!"

"Go on then…I will listen"

"Phi was, as I think you know, the Snake Master, the soul of the first Ophiucus. You must know that our Cloths were once real people who sacrificed their souls to protect Athena forever, and thus they became the Twelve Gold Cloths. It means that my Cloth is, or was, Ophiucus the Fallen, the one who had been wronged so long ago by the other Saints and the Goddess herself. Because of this hatred this Cloth has corrupted all of his hosts, turning them into traitors and assassins. I think you know the bloody story of the Fallen…Anyway this loop was finally broken when a young orphan was placed in the care of a careless assassin, a man whose sense of justice was just as screwed as his sense of aesthetics. This man, with the help of a beauty lover with just as many skewered beliefs, was the one to break the curse, the one to offer sympathy both to the young orphan and the bitter old snake. But the old snake was so fixed in his bitter ways that he refused to see what was in front of his eyes: that the sympathy and the care weren't offered just to his young host, but to him as well. That behind the white haired devil and the egotistical princess were the souls of _his_ two long standings friends. When I got abducted I tried to reason with the Snake Master, but to no avail. When Leandro and his men knifed us…"

Knifed her? What did she mean with knife them? If that was true he should have made that filth pay more that he had paid…

"Calm down Mask! What is done is done and Aphrodite made a fine, if a bit scary job, of their carcasses… As I was saying when he knifed us I got separated from Phi, and ended up here, as Nathair. In that very moment I despaired for the Snake Master's soul and my own. I had not been able to convince him that he was loved when we were together, how was I supposed to do that now that we were apart? But I had underestimated my Guardians and my whole family. You all showed love to Phi when I could not and you made him understand that, despite the past, we could be a family together. And when Aphrodite…when Dite…_jumped_…well that has been the final straw and well…as you say the rest is history!"

The light-hearted tone she had used might have fooled another man, not him, not after everything they had gone through together. She was trying to hide her hurt, her pain, she was trying to shield him, like she had done so many times before, and he had been too much of an idiot to understand it then. But no more! No more tears in the dark, when she thought nobody would hear her. No more forces smiles instead of grimaces of pain, so they didn't worry for her. No more was he going to stand aside and let her tackle the world alone.

Starting now.

He gathered her in his arms and whispered soothing nonsense in her hair until she started crying. And when her cries became shouts and sobs and waterworks he held on, steady, sure like an anchor in the storm.

And they weathered the hurricane together and together they wept for the injustices of life, for all the injured and dead, and for Aphrodite, whose conditions still were unknown.

Finally, after what could have been hours, her sobs died down and her cheeks dried. When she looked at him with red-rimmed but clear eyes he knew she had come out of the fray a winner and smiled at her.

"Do you need anything?"

It had only been Helena's hand on his arm that prevented him to open up Hell's Mouth and swallow the idiot that had dared come behind them.

"No, thank you Saga! I think we are fine, right Death Mask?"

Saga? What was he doing there? Hadn't he avoided Helena like the plague? Nobody had really understood his reasoning but he had a mean punch when angry and so no one had pushed the issue. But now, here he was, and with a chequered blanket in his hands and a look of worry in his eyes.

When his red eyes met the Pope's ones he understood. Saga had finally come back from the black hole of his guilt and he had taken up the position of Guardian while he and Dite were down. He, Death Mask of Cancer, was a proud man, not prone at accepting help from anybody, but Saga had protected his most important treasure and for that he was willing to humiliate himself in front of the other man.

"Thank you for protecting Helena, my liege. I am in your debt!"

"I didn't do it so I could collect debts all around Death Mask!"

"I know, you are far more honourable than that. If you had done it just to collect debts I wouldn't have thanked you, but it's because you have done it without thought of retribution that I place myself in your debt!"

Those piercing eyes seized him up, intent on finding the minimal trace of lie and mistruth and, apparently having found none, he smiled. A tiny smirk one was sure to miss if he didn't look properly, but it was there, and that was enough for the Guardian of Hell.

Having apparently reached the same conclusion, the girl in his arms started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Shall we have dinner together then? It's been ages since we have done something like this! But please, no talking about assassinations at the dinner table!"

And with a cheeky smile she bounded away, presumably towards the kitchens, leaving him to warily look at the extended hand in front of him.

"You know it doesn't bite right Death Mask?"

"Knowing you, Saga, it might just do that!"

But he took it, with a smiling glint in his eyes and together they followed after their little sister.

"You know that she won't stop hammering us about those dinners when we used to decide the future of humanity right?"

"Yeah, I know! But if it makes her smile, I will sit through them with all the grace I can muster!"

"You know Saga, you are not that bad!"

And with that he turned left, leaving a stunned brother behind.


	16. L'imprevisto

Helena was going to kill him! She had tried not to, but the man could actually try the patience of a saint! Or a Buddhist Monk!

"KARDIA! Enough of your idiocy! What are you, five?!"

If she had expected a mature answer after her inquiry, she was left sorely hanging by the proverbial thread because the only thing the other Saint graced her with was his pink tongue and the childish "Na na na na naaaa!"

Now he had signed his death warrant! Completely pissed off she raised both her hands on top of her head and, just as quickly as everything had begun, the yell of "AURORA EXECUTION!" brought a long awaited silence in the thicket in which she and her companions had stopped for the night.

"Neat little trick that one! It certainly saves the trouble of cleaning after the hit…you should teach me that some day, milady!"

As always the words of another of her companions were thick with a sinister vibe and an unhealthy dose of glee towards everything even remotely goring. And as always they left her a slimy and bitter taste in her mouth.

Only the fact that he was one of Sara's Guardians still prevented her from poisoning Deuteros of Gemini on the spot.

And since killing any of them wasn't really an option she was left with the only thing that had saved her sanity and everybody's life so far: meditation.

The first time she had meditated, under the watchful eyes of Shaka – when she had more than discovered that he could see perfectly fine even without his eyes open! – she had thought it one of the most boring tasks ever! She had already started her training with the other Gold Saints and sitting on one's bottom for hours in a very uncomfortable cross-legged position wasn't something considered nor appealing nor _cool_ by the then eight years old.

But now, after more than a decade, she found the position soothing, like a well worn jumper and moreover she was reminded of home. And if she had come to associate one definition of home with the silent Virgo Temple it was nobody's business but her own.

Also, in that very moment, it was also the only thing saving his companions' asses from her fury.

"Why did you allow them to come? Their presence is nothing if not a burden on our mission. They should have been left behind, alongside the girl you are training. There are some places a master should not bring his or her trainees until they have successfully graduated every challenge!"

And right on cue it was her third companion in that venture: the stoic, and very stiff and boring, El Cid of Capricorn who, for all his quiet manners, was actually more insufferable than the other two put together with his extremely elegant, but also extremely fastidious, whining and posturing.

She took a deep breath and released a quiet "Ohm" in the vain hope that all three of them would disappear from the face of the earth, but when she opened her eyes again, she was greeted by the figure of the Capricorn Saint, far closer than she had ever wanted him to be – not the she had anything against Capricorn, Shura was a very good cuddler on a good day - but there was something about El Cid that she found unnerving.

Knowing she had nowhere to escape to – that Saint was even more relentless than a dog with a bone – she inhaled again and proceeded to explain, for what was sure the thousandth time, why she had let all of them come with her in her mission.

"I have already told you El Cid why I wanted Sara to come with me. She is my student and there are some things an Ophiucus cannot learn just from training. Some lessons are better delivered while living them, instead that through books and theory. And with her coming you and Gemini had to come to: you are both her Guardians and the Ophiucus Saint rarely moves without one or even both Guardians beside her, not if she can help it. And since I couldn't help it, since my Guardians are both down for the count, when Kardia suggested coming with us to keep an eye on me, I thought I could use him as my protection detail until we get back to Sanctuary. After all he, and by extension all of you, are under direct orders from Athena to keep me alive throughout this mission, are you not?"

And as always, at the mention of the side mission that all three of them had been solemnly sworn to by their Athena – keeping her alive no matter the cost – Capricorn just stood again and moved away from her, as if to put as much distance as possible with her disgusting personality.

Truth to be told she had not been particularly enthusiastic at the prospect of having those three tag along. Kardia was more than a little unpredictable – in ways that her dear Milo had never been, a bit mischievous yes, but not downright manic – El Cid could shame a mule in his stubbornness and principles – how was Sisiphus so in love with him she couldn't figure out – and Deuteros, well he was something else. She had thought that she had seen the worst of the Gemini mad side with Arles first and then Kanon as Sea Dragon, but Gemini no Deuteros had put all of their efforts to utter shame.

Both of her darling Gemini's auras screamed power, but Deuteros' eyes held a ruthlessness in them that spoke of ugly things happened to him. She knew the story, of course, but to see first-hand the consequences of it, well she wasn't really sure she could survive this mission.

But, doubts or not, she knew she had to go back to Sanctuary, the lives of her family and even some of the past Gold Saints hung from a thread, and she was the only one with the necessary knowledge to prevent their downfall.

She closed her eyes and breathed through the wave of pain that threatened to crush her at the memory of just how precarious her family's situation was in that very moment.

She had been happy when Saga had awoken, and even happier when they had finally manage to fix their relationship and go beyond past hurts. She had been even more ecstatic when, less than a week later, also Death Mask had re-joined the land of the living.

But as time dragged on and her other brothers and sister failed to rouse, and even Death Mask and Saga seemed to wither away before her eyes, she started to suspect something afoul.

It hadn't taken her long to find out the cause of it and when she had it, it had taken all of her willpower not to break down there and then.

Because her family was not going to get better, it was going to get worse. In their wounds, some more some less, it had been injected a strong poison, one that had no known antidote. A poison so subtle that it fed on the Cosmo of the wounded until it was no more, and then it hit the body, killing it quickly but very painfully.

But she had known a solution for that. A place where she could find the ingredients for the anti-venom, a place so inaccessible and uncontaminated in her time, that she had very high hopes of finding it even here, two centuries before she was born.

She knew she had to go – she would have gone even if only one of her brothers had taken ill, but the fact that all of them had been hit, alongside with Athena, had rendered her departure all the more necessary – and so had Death Mask. He had so wanted to come, to protect her like the Guardian he was, but he had been hit as well and the venom had already started to take effect in his body, as had happened to Saga as well.

And so it had been with worried eyes that they had both watched her prepare for the long and dangerous journey to a far away mountain in the east. A journey far more dangerous than the one she had undertaken once in their time, due to the distinct lack of long distance transportation and facilities.

She had been almost ready to go, heavy under the weight of her brothers' last minute suggestions and orders when the catastrophic news had reached them.

Apparently the poison had struck not only her precious family, but also Lady Sasha and a handful of the other Gold Saints, including Sisiphus, Regulus, Manigoldo and Degel.

And that had been the reason behind the escort. She had willingly taken Sara, so she could learn which plants to use and how to use them, and that would have been the final extent of her company, but Fate had other plans.

Because just as they had been ready to depart, her young pupil had been surrounded by a golden light in which she had seen two symbols which had then etched themselves onto Sara's arms: her Guardians, Capricorn and Gemini.

And since an Ophiucus wasn't really supposed to go around without her Guardians – she didn't really count since she had been going around alone since she was seven – and Capricorn was already itching to go in order to save Sisiphus, she had taken them along, in the vain hope to teach them the finer points of the special bond of Guardianship – she still hadn't managed to do that and she despaired she even could! As for Kardia, she hadn't really understood how he had managed to tag along, but apparently he was the one in charge of taking care of the fact that she actually returned back to Sanctuary – as if she could do anything but! – and not fly away with the antidote.

And so they had departed, both parties under the obligation of staying alive and her company of Gold Saint under strict orders from Athena not to let anything happen to her, and she could not think of a worse omen for the start of her journey than the haunted look in Death Mask and Saga's eyes when she had been assigned the escort of none other than the sadistic Kardia of Scorpio.

But as they could barely lift their heads from the pillows there hadn't been anything any of them could do to change the situation. She only hoped she didn't end up at the bottom of the Yamatsou, courtesy of one of her companions or she might not survive – pun completely intended – the scolding that Death Mask was sure to inflict on her. Or the Judges irate faces. Talking about the three Infernal Judges she had not seen nor hide nor hair of any of them since the battle. She had known they weren't badly injured, but the fact that they had disappeared without even saying goodbye had left her with a bad feeling. She was also very sure that both Mask and Saga would have preferred the stoic Rhadamantys as her chaperone than the mad Scorpion.

But, alas, it seemed she was stuck in the middle of the wilderness with the three most…well most antisocial Saints of all times and she knew there had been very few possibilities of her luck being worse than it had been.

"They will come round, you'll see…"

Ah, the naïveté of youth! She briefly wondered if she had been that naïve when younger and she decided that, maybe, she had been that and even more; after all she had thought she could live with the Assassin of the Sanctuary and even manage to find out his cuddly side…

"I don't particularly care if they keep hating me or if they are going to change their minds about my presence. It's your reception I am worried about…you are the Ophiucus Saint and they cannot keep ignoring that fact for much longer. You need them and they need you, as simple as that!"

She felt, more than saw all of the three Gold Saints stiffen in barely suppressed anger and for a moment she became so incensed with the three of them that she contemplated sending their pathetic souls to Hades himself. After all he owed her a very large debt so she figured that taking care of a couple of souls wouldn't be a huge problem.

"Don't Helena! They will come round and tolerate my presence, I am sure of it!"

That was not enough! Sure she had been as naïve as her pupil, if not more, but she had never taken that attitude laying down! Even when just a little girl she had always given equal if not more that what she got, and her reputation of though girl had soon preceded her.

But Sara wasn't even trying to fight! She had simply accepted that her fellow Gold Saints were never going to consider her one of her own, a part of the family. It looked like she had already seen the finale of that particular story and she was just waiting for it to happen, again.

"You already experienced something like this right Sara? The longing, the shunning, the non-acceptance…you have already looked at this life from the outside while you were freezing in the cold, am I right?"

The silence told her more that anything else.

"When?"

"There is no need for you pity, master!"

Feisty, interesting…

"I offered nor pity nor judgment, but simple listening…if you don't want to talk about it then fine, but know that a shared load becomes lighter…"

A faint: "And where did _that_ come from? The House of Virgo?" reached her eyes and it took all of her willpower not to present Cerberus with the soul of Kardia. She was sure that Rhadamantys would have been delighted by it.

Apparently that comment had been heard by her student as well who had decided to lightly chuckle instead than scowl like she was doing.

"You have to admit it master, for a minute you sounded like Asmita, or better yet, Shaka!"

She wasn't going to admit to anything! But even in that case a small smirk graced her lips. If they thought her able to quote Virgo, than they might even thought her as dangerous as the man closest to God. Which of course she wasn't. No, she was far _more_ dangerous than him.

"Fine! You win! I'll tell you everything! How is anybody going to deny you anything with _that _smile I have no idea! You make Deuteros look cuddly!"

Her indignant murmur, followed by a more distinct curse by Gemini, had only the power to make her pupil chuckle, which, Helena thought, was not a bad result in itself. The girl had been very close to tears less than a minute before, so any smile in her book was ok.

"I was three when my family abandoned me. I have no idea why, just that they left me on the steps of a church and went away. I remember little of my time with them. Colours, laughter, I am positive I have a brother somewhere, but nobody has ever come to reclaim me. And so, as most stories go, I was put in to an orphanage, waiting for somebody to come and pick me. But they never did. All of my friends, all of the other children got picked, sooner or later, but never me. Not the lonely, freaky child, always surrounded by an aura of death and magic. They said I was cursed, that the snakes were doing my bidding, that people and things tended to die around me. And I couldn't do anything to stop it. I didn't even know what I was doing wrong! There isn't a lot more to this story than this: on one Christmas night, the orphanage was all alight with fires and music, in celebration. This celebrations was usually reserved for the adults, but that year even us children had been given permission to participate. Since I had finished preparing earlier than the others one of our tutors had given me a job to do outside, I don't even remember what job that was. When I finally got back to the door to enter the party I found it close. I tried knocking and screaming and crying, but nothing worked. I followed the light towards a window and I saw them, inside, laughing and dancing and celebrating. They were happy, and I was alone, outside. That night was the night in which I escaped. I was barely twelve. After that I hitchhiked my way to Murano, and that's where you found me…"

The silence hung heavy and thick in the thicket after Sara's story. Helena had felt the other Gold Saints straining to listen to the recollection and could feel now their disgust and anger at the treatment she had undergone. And for all the fact that her pupil's story was a tragic one she rejoiced of the fact that their three companions were finally starting to consider the youngest member of the group.

But there was something else that was puzzling her. One minor detail that hung completely backwards. She had said she had a family who had abandoned her when she was three, and a brother. She had been positive about that. Helena was aware of another story very similar to this one, the only difference being in the fact that it was a brother recounting the story of how he had lost his baby sister.

"Sara, you said you had hitchhiked your way to Murano, but where do you really come from?"

"Oh, I originally come from Rosarno. Why?"

OH! Rosarno? Why was she even surprised? Fate had always had a mysterious way of working things.

"Oh, nothing! Just my curiosity!"

A curiosity she apparently shared with her companions who, judging from their faces, had reached the same conclusions as her. Could she really be?

She felt more than saw Kardia's subtle no and she decided to let the matter rest for the moment. After all it was no use for anyone to upset her now and not be able to deliver good news later.

But she had a feeling she was right, and if she was then the young Ophiucus Saint was finally going to have the family she had always wished. And maybe someone else was going to have his wish granted.

And if the story and the revelation that young Sara had put forth that night had awarded her a place near the fire, almost sandwiched in between her Guardians who had finally started to do their job, Helena wasn't going to complain. Even if it left her completely alone and away from the orange glowing of the fire.

She already had her family, she just needed to save them!


	17. La richiesta

"Come on Kanon, just another sip…please…then you can sleep again…"

The soothing and caring voice of the Wyvern was sickening to hear, thought Minos of the Griphon. He was a Spectre for Hades' sake! He was supposed to taunt the Saints, not coddle them in the vain hope of getting one of them to drink the blasted tea that until that very moment had done nothing to better their condition.

But Rhadamantys, his brother, one of the Three Infernal Judges, high in the favour of Lord Hades, was also a fool in love. And with a Saint of Athena for crying out loud!

He, Minos, had been against that _love story_ from the start, and nothing Rhadamantys and Aiacos had said had managed to convince him of the contrary.

Truce with Athena notwithstanding they were Spectres and love wasn't something that grew freely in Hell: Aiacos and Violate had been a very good proof of _that_.

Knowing the sad love affair between his other brother and Violate of Behemoth he had imagined that Aiacos would have been on his side in trying to convince that asinine moron that anything more than death threats and taunts between Spectres and Saints was _unbecoming_.

But apparently he had been alone in that way of thinking because as soon as Aiacos had caught wind of just how deep Rhadamantys' infatuation with the Gemini Saint had been, he had done his very best to assure him of his complete approval and support. Leaving Minos to deal with all the other Spectres who had wanted to know why they couldn't even talk impolitely to the new Gemini Saint.

And no, he was not jealous! Why would he be? It wasn't like he was _in love_ with the XVII century Pisces Saint. Oh no, his was just a _pretty face_, something to pass the time with. A pair of fiery eyes that still haunted his dream. And no, he wasn't pissed by the fact that Albafica first, and Aphrodite later, had chosen the Cancer Saint instead of him. If the Pisces Saint preferred such a crude and vulgar individual instead of him, Griphon no Minos, he wasn't going to waste any more of his time on him. And he wasn't pining! No matter what Lune, Pharaoh and the others thought he was doing!

He had disapproved them openly for the first period, but then he had to conceal his disapproval behind a mask and a fake smile when Rhadamantys had threatened – _threatened!_ – to move away from Hell and onto the Earth so to stay with Kanon.

Now they had established a sort of routine. He would ignore every time Rhadamantys went out with his _beau _and his brother would let him curse the day Gemini was born in the privacy of his rooms.

But now, in that smelly room in a past he had thought buried forever, he couldn't stomach the pitiful scene in front of him. His brother could not expect him to look at _that_ and maintain his self control.

"Let it go Minos! Do not start a war here, not with Rhadamantys in that condition. You know you won't survive the blast if you do…"

"Let _me_ go Aiacos! I cannot look at him lowering himself to play nurse to a sick Saint who cannot eve dodge attacks!"

His Cosmic Marionetion was threatening to come out and the murder in his eyes must have shown brighter than usual because Aiacos had let him go without further protests.

He hadn't taken more than three steps toward his intended target when a cold hand, colder than death itself, stopped his movement.

He quickly pivoted on himself, hands raised to unleash the strings he was so fond of on the unsuspecting idiot who had thought wise to stop him, when his pale violet eyes met pained red.

No, this idiot had already taken away something that had been his once, he was not allowing it again!

"Let. Me. Go! Or you will taste Hell a lot sooner that you desire!"

But the stubborn glint in those eyes never waivered, not once, not like it had done so much time ago, when the man in front of him had begged them to save him, to spare him the endless pit of the Yamatsou. And he, Minos of the Griphon, could respect a man with those eyes.

"I don't want to stop you…not really my business if your brother and Gemini fall under your precious _puppet show_!" A barely visible sneer accompanied those words and that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

"Then what do you _want_, Cancer?! If it's not pity for them that made you stay my hand, what is it? Do you want to die now? No agony for you? Choosing the cowardly way out again, crab?"

He knew the only thing stopping the Saint from retaliating was the poison running through his system, he could read that much in the murderous glare directed at him. Pity those Saints had gotten struck by the enemy. It would have been good fun to beat them into the ground again…

"Ex-cali-bur!"

The hit had so little power behind it that Minos didn't even try to dodge the light beam directed at him. He let his Surplix take the _minimal_ damage the hit had managed to land and then slowly turned himself to look at the attacker, meanwhile few murmurs of surprise rose from the Saints.

"Do not…threaten…Death Mask…anymore!"

"Oh, so you're the one who wants a quick death then! Am I right Capricorn no Shura?"

"ENOUGH!"

The burst of Cosmo, even a weak as it had been, had the immediate response of silencing every one in the room.

Who knew that the weak Cancer Saint had it in him to unleash that kind of power. Oh well, he was a Spectre, he could always wait for the next Holy War to see what power was concealed under all that gold.

"Shura, thank you for your intervention, but stay out of this! It's something I _need_ to do! Minos, your fight, if there is even one, is with me! But I do _not_ want to fight you! I simply need a favour from you and your brothers…"

A favour? What kind of thing that man could possibly ever want from him? From the Three Infernal Judges? He could feel both Aiacos and Rhadamantys' curiosity rearing up and he himself found it difficult to ignore the final plea of a dying man.

"What do you want then, Cancer? I cannot, and will not, grant you, _any of you_, more time on this Earth. If you perish or not it's up to you…"

He had said that to sound threatening, to crush the last spark of hope in those eyes, but what happened next, he couldn't have foreseen it, even if he had tried.

Because the Cancer…laughed.

Oh, if he laughed; like he had heard the most amazing joke, a laugh of deep and genuine mirth and not a pathetic chuckle to cover up the tears.

The venom must have made him mad! There was no other explanation! And, apparently, even his fellow Gold Saints thought the same thing, if their expressions were to be believed.

After what could have been an eternity Cancer stopped laughing and his all demeanour shifted all of a sudden.

"I am dying Minos, as you can plainly see. I might wish the contrary, but I have already experienced death too many times not to know when the old lady is coming. And while I'd prefer not to think about it, so is Aphrodite. And all the others. We are dying and if they do not hurry up with the cure, it won't be much time before our souls will rest forever."

"I will _not_ protect Athena! You die, she is free game!"

The collective gasp behind him would have been hilarious if it hadn't been for those bloody red eyes that kept him pinned on the spot.

"Believe it or not Spectre, I wasn't about to ask you that. As I said earlier, we are dying, and by we, I mean also Athena. A Goddess she may be, but this venom is designed to strike the ones with Cosmo, and unfortunately our Lady has got that in abundance…"

If the Cancer didn't want them to protect Athena, what did he _want_?

"I need you to protect something that, for me, is as valuable as Athena's life, if not more…as I cannot, we cannot, move from here, I am asking, nay, I am _begging_, you to find and protect Helena…"

A punch in the stomach would have probably hurt less. And judging from the stunned faces around him, he hadn't been the only one to think that.

Protect Ophiucus? Who did he think they were? Babysitters?

"I did not say, protect Ophiucus…I said, protect _Helena_! Or do you not care about her? Because I seem to remember a creative threat involving a _puppet show_ on the unfortunate soul who would dare ask for her hand in marriage…am I wrong?"

A swift punch in the stomach put a quick end to Aiacos' snickering and if he only had the power under which looks could kill, the _Karkinos_ would have already been six feet under.

That confession – threat was a better definition, his conscience said – was supposed to have been _private_! How in hell had that half Saint gotten wind of it?

But that was not the problem at hand in that very moment. He would have to deal with potential spies later.

"Why do you want us to do it? You know what would happen if we were to exert our powers over your precious protégé…"

At least being in love hadn't completely turned to mush Rhadamantys' brain. As always his brother was the calm and collected one, able to ask just the right questions.

"Very nice question brother! Do tell us Cancer, how do you propose we solve our little conundrum? Shall we take her with us? Would you sign her fate away like this? You must be aware that we have been trying for decades to convince Ophiucus to come to us, to live as a Spectre instead than a Saint. Who better than us could understand his plight? His desire to kill Athena. By giving us the job of protecting Helena, you are signing away your Goddess' life…are you certain?"

"Somehow, I don't think you will let it happen…"

And that wasn't exactly the thing the Spectres expected to hear.

"And how in the name of everything do you know that we won't let that happen?"

"Because you love her, and you are far more honourable than that. You have tried for years to have Helena in your ranks and she has always refused. I do not think it was because we were doing an admirable job at protecting her! You never forced her to choose another path, so why would you do it now? There is no Holy War anymore, why impose her another life now?"

Damn the idiotic crab to the seventh circle of Hell! He was right of course. They could have forced her to join them, Minos himself had been on the verge of imposing that path – threatening someone always had a special effect on people – but they had never done so. Doing so now would have felt like cheating.

"But, if she was willing to join you than I would be more than happy. I would prefer her with you, than alone…"

Damn the man! He wasn't going to get emotional! He was an Infernal Judge and judges didn't get emotional! With the apparent exceptions of Rhadamantys and Aiacos who weren't even trying to conceal their watery eyes!

"And what are you all crying for? I am simply doing my job as Guardian!"

Apparently Cancer didn't take well his being the good guy, but the small comic interlude he had provided had let Minos and the others discuss the request briefly.

"If you are done…"

A dead silence descended over the room.

"As I was saying, if you are done, we will accept your request Death Mask, and do our best to fulfil it! But this doesn't mean you are allowed to die! Any of you! I have already had to deal with a pissed and grieving Ophiucus and it is not an experience I would like to repeat!"

"Thank you Minos!"

Well…Athena's Saints could be well mannered and intelligent when they wanted to be…

"I never thought I'd see the day in which Griphon no Minos admitted to being scared of a girl..."

Did he say intelligent?


	18. L'inizio di una nuova amicizia, forse!

While her Guardian signed away his role and the Spectres started the long and arduous journey designed to find her and bring her back to Sanctuary in one piece, Helena was faced with another challenge: the precarious relationship between her pupil and her Guardians.

On the one hand, after Sara's story, Capricorn had been at least more sympathetic towards her – as for Gemini, Helena counted as a win the mere fact that Deuteros had stopped sneering like a manic in close proximity to Sara – and even Kardia had managed to find some humanity underneath all that venom. On the other hand, the revelation of a possible missing brother and the sinking suspicion they all had about him, had the three Saints treat Sara like she was made of glass, which was most counterproductive in light of the training that she was supposed to receive.

It wasn't like Sara had to learn all of the other Saints' techniques – Ophiucus was a powerful Saint but he had his attacks like everybody else – but the amount of training involved into controlling the Cosmo at the right level for the most important attacks required a more thorough training than the one she had been imparting on her young pupil.

"El Cid! Stay seated! Do. Not. Interfere! She needs to be able to create her own defensive barrier and she cannot be doing that if you continue to interfere in the training process or even ask me to power down my attacks! You have trained your pupils with a far harsher hand than mine, so _do not interfere!_"

How could he really think that she was going to kill Sara? And even if she did perish by her hand, she would consider it a blessing. No self respecting Ophiucus who couldn't endure training would be able to endure the cloth itself.

Knowing that she wasn't going to make much more progress for the day, Helena reluctantly called for a break.

They had started that routine early into the journey. During the day they walked for as many miles they could endure – light speed wasn't something recommended when the path you were walking was a mere line in the nothingness – and as the sun began to set they would stop, so that Sara could continue her training like she was supposed to.

Helena knew that her pupil was just about ready to take up the heavy mantle of Ophiucus just as she knew that she couldn't teach her everything like she wanted to. The young girl simply wasn't ready and would never be. It had been a very risky gamble the one that Saga had undertaken all those years ago: let her be trained by _all_ the Gold Saints. One gamble that had paid off, in the end. But she had been so close to death so many times that she knew it was thanks to sheer determination and a very good dose of dumb luck that her soul hadn't graced Hell before her time.

No human was made to withstand the power of more than one Cosmo, and the fact that she had been lucky enough to survive _thirteen_ of them…well she wasn't going to push that luck any further. Sara would be trained for the Ophiucus Cloth and nothing else.

Now, if only she could convince that stubborn goat to let her do her job…

"Master, can I ask you a question?"

"You already did, Sara! But ask another if it will please you…"

Valiantly trying to imprison the snicker that threatened to come out Helena watched as her student chocked on what she could only presume was air, before finally calming down and start formulating her question.

"Why don't you teach me everything you know? Every technique? Every powerful hit? Why do you hold back? Like you have at your fingertips an arsenal of hits and you use just a couple? When you were just Phi, I didn't have that impression, but now that you are Helena, I think you are holding yourself back. Why?"

Helena sighed. The perception of a snake. The capacity to zero into the most microscopic detail and expose it under the sun, like the dirty little secret it was. She should have known that her pupil would have inherited that as well. She hadn't even been aware that she was holding back, but she wasn't very surprised by it. Even as a young kid she had always been attuned to the others' essences and how hers could interfere with that, and so she had hold back. But as her powers grew, as her training intensified, also her brothers' cosmos blazed stronger and she hadn't had the need to power down her own energy in almost ten years.

But, apparently, now she had done it so without thinking. And her apprentice wanted to know why.

Opening her eyes again she noticed she had gathered quite the crowd around her. All of their companions had stopped even pretending to be doing something else and they had inched closer, readying themselves in case of an attack.

Fools all of them! Whatever defence they had would crumble in the face of her power, if she simply were inclined to use it of course. Luckily for them, even if they didn't know it, she had no intention of unleashing that kind of power in front of them, unless of course the situation called for it.

As for now, the only thing the situation really called for, were her famed nerves of steel, because there was no chance in Hell that Helena was going to tell them the real extent of her Cosmo. She was simply going to dish them a half truth and leave it at that. Maybe one day, when she had all of her family at her back she would finally show them what lurked underneath the surface, but that day still wasn't upon them.

"You asked me why I am holding back something from you right? You said that you hadn't had this impression when I was just Phi and I commend you for your observational skills. You were right. When I was just Phi I was holding nothing back, because I knew nothing more than the attacks of the Ophiucus constellation. But now the situation is different. I have regained my memories and with them also the hits of the other constellations that I have learned from my fellow Gold Saints."

"What?"

As always Scorpio no Kardia could be counted as the one to make to most unthought-of comment – a position he shared with none other than Cancer no Manigoldo who, mercifully, wasn't there with them.

"There is no need to shout Kardia! We are alone here and I'd rather we stay that way! Plus I can hear you perfectly fine even without the melodrama!"

Helena felt the rising of the golden Cosmo from the Scorpio and decided to give them a live demonstration of what she was about to explain; she charged her Cosmo a little and concentrated on bringing down the temperature of her inner core, like Camus had taught her all those years ago. When the blazing Cosmo of Kardia turned to a red hue she unleashed the cold she harboured within.

"Scarlet Needle!"

"Diamond Dust!"

When the dust settled only silence remained.

"Woooow…that was…that…COOL!"

If Helena could have face palmed she would have! Completely inopportune joke aside her pupil had just, well, she had just _laughed_ at her attacking the Scorpion Saint. And the other two had not even thought about moving in to help him. Even now there stood there, seated in front of her, like she hadn't just possibly frozen to death one of their companions.

-How is that even possible? Why don't they move? Why don't they protect, avenge, each other?-

-They are not your family girl! And even they would have never thought about that if you hadn't intervened in their lives and smashed their thick heads together!-

-How are they supposed to protect _you_? They don't even protect themselves!-

-There is a reason why I hated them girl, you know it! And now you have simply seen it for yourself. None of my previous hosts had managed to gain the respect, the love, you have and for that I thank you! For you alone have managed to break the curse…and that is why all of the constellations simply adore you!-

-But what about Sara then? Will she never experience what I did? What I have? And what about them? Fated to be nothing more than comrades? To come together only in times of dire need? No family for them?-

-Maybe not everything is lost dear one, maybe your coming here was not as dumb luck as we previously thought. What if your presence here is exactly what they need to create the strong bonds of friendship that you so desperately want? After all a soul does not change in just one lifetime. Maybe you here, will help them accept the tiny and bossy girl I'll choose in the future…-

Her constellation might have a point there. And so she needed to act like the peace maker again, make them all see past themselves and into a collective, a family. Piece of cake! She had already done it once…she was so _not ready_ to do it again! Last time it almost cost her life, but she knew she had to at least try.

"Unfreeze my hand now snake! And face me like a man!"

"Putting aside the fact that I am a _woman_ Kardia, and that your hand will unfreeze itself in time, I kindly ask you to sit down and _listen_ to what I have to tell you. You too El Cid and Deuteros. You might not like what I am about to tell you, but you will need it one day. Trust me."

She could see that they weren't particularly convinced by her words, but nonetheless they did as they were told, much to her relief. She hadn't been very sure about that, and she couldn't afford to waste time and precious Cosmo to fight them.

"I was about seven when the Pope found me. My family had been killed a couple of years prior to that day and my twin brother had disappeared soon after that. I had been left to fend for myself alone, no friends, not even the orphanage had accepted me due to more or less the same problems that had followed you around dear Sara. When the Pope found me I was undernourished and sick and I would have done anything to get a decent meal and a warm bed, even sell my soul to the devil. And that was exactly what I did. For I did not know then, but the Pope, the man that had saved me and took me in, had a double personality: the good one, the one that had taken me in, and the psychotic one, a ruthless killer hell bent on destroying Athena and governing the world. And even though I had been found by the good one, it was the bad that decided my fate. He had needed an assassin, someone who could infiltrate himself in the ranks of people surrounding Athena, first to gain her trust and then to kill her. And since I was the same age as Saori, he thought I was the perfect candidate. He assigned to me the Ophiucus Cloth and started teaching me the same attacks that I am trying to inculcate into my dear student here, but with far more ferocity than I am using. But this man knew that if I was to be the best assassin on the land I could not rely just on the attacks of one measly constellation. If I wanted to succeed where everybody else had failed I had to be better than them! Stronger than them! And furthermore, I needed to intimately know their attacks so I could counteract them. And so, under the guise of not knowing which cloth I was destined to, I trained under _all_ the Gold Saints, from Aries to Pisces and for ten long years I mastered their attacks and strategies. They didn't even know I had reached their level of execution because I had to pretend not being able to launch the attacks, or the ruse would have never worked. The only ones who knew about were the Pope, and Death Mask and Aphrodite, who had been appointed my Guardians by the Pope himself."

Helena could taste the shocked silence that had descended on their small group, and it had the bitter taste of betrayal. Se knew that, in a minute, the three Gold Saints were going to attack her. Not that the consequences of that would be _permanent_, at least not for her.

"What did you mean when you said that the Pope appointed you your Guardians? Weren't they chosen like mine were? No golden light for you?"

Apparently her pupil had a knack for diffusing dangerous situations. Interesting trait to have, especially if you lived with twelve boisterous boys all the time.

"Nope…no golden light for me, at least not then! At that time they were simply my glorified babysitters and nothing more…the _official_ ceremony happened some time later, and it involved a prank gone wrong, the dogs of the Underworld and far more blood than any of us were confortable with!"

She knew she had fired up their curiosity, but that was a _private_ story, one that she didn't feel confortable enough sharing with four virtual strangers. Not when all of her brothers still didn't know what had really happened.

"So you are nothing more than a liar and an assassin!"

"You can call anything you want Kardia, but for now the only thing I really am, is your last hope to cure your companions and Athena. So I suggest you _not_ try anything funny, and stop interfere in my training sessions. After all, I did not promise Athena that I would bring you back _alive_…"

Helena knew she might have layered it a little bit on the thick side but she had no more patience with her impossible escort.

Plus she was used to being the odd one out: Milo's looks had been just the same as Kardia's and the paranoia that El Cid was oozing couldn't hold a candle to everything that had happened at the Tenth House with Shura.

She had already overcome their concerns once, she could do it again! And it least now she was sure that somebody would be waiting for her at the end of the road. It was a fool proof plan, nothing could go wrong!

And that was exactly when everything went down the worst possible route.


	19. Lo Scorpione si rivela

Kardia was tired. No, it was more than that. He was _exhausted_!

They had been marching non-stop for two weeks and, apparently, the worse part was still in front of them. But the Golden Scorpio wasn't _physically _tired. Oh, no…after all he didn't consider himself one of the strongest Saints for nothing! No, he was _mentally_ at his limit.

His deep and all consuming worry for Degel's health was rapidly draining him of all his forces and the situation in which he was forced to travel didn't help him in keeping at least his peace of mind.

If it could have been avoided he wouldn't have come. He despised his current company: the boring and way too pompous El Cid, the creepy and amoral Deuteros and the new girl, Sara, who he still couldn't place. But most of all he hated the fourth member of their group. The others, even young Sara, were his comrades, people he was supposed to work _with_, at least when out on a mission in the name of Athena. But the other one, Ophiucus no Heleiana, was a mystery wrapped up in layers of enigmas and with a core of pure danger. And Kardia had always been wary of enigmas. The only thing that was stalling his needle was the promise Sasha had extracted from him, the promise of keeping the bitch alive. And, unfortunately, the fact that she was the only one who knew how to make the anti-venom they so desperately needed. He knew she was not going to flee from them, after all her so-called family was in danger as well. He could be patient; there was no need to kill her now. Let her deliver the medicine first and then there would be all the time in the world to make her pay for every insult and mockery she had thrown his way on the journey. Her Guardians and her brothers would not be able to do anything to protect her, and he sincerely doubt that any of his fellow Gold Saints would lift even a finger to save her pretty little face.

He was aware that Helena knew he loathed her and what he had in mind to do once the mission was completed, but he couldn't care less. Soon he was going to unleash the full powers of his venomous Cosmo, and she would suffer under him.

His, _traitorous_, conscience reared its head for a second to remind him that Helena had done nothing more than defending herself from his attacks and that Sara would be devastated if he was to kill her master, but Kardia ruthlessly squashed that feeling down. By the time they arrived back to Sanctuary the vermin should have finished with Sara's training and even if she hadn't he was sure that El Cid and Deuteros could supply anything missing.

He was so lost in his bloody dreams that he became aware of her approach one second to late.

"What the fuck do you want, vermin?"

He watched her flinch at his harsh tone and venomous words, all but shouted in the privacy of the ledge he was sitting on, before schooling her features in a mask of imperturbable calm.

"There is no need to insult Kardia, I was simply bringing you your dinner…"

It took all of willpower to avoid blushing like an idiot caught with his hands in the jar. He was not going to apologize! After all one good deed wasn't enough to cancel the assassination attempt on their Goddess.

Staunchly refusing to look at her or the dinner she had brought, he felt her retreat in the woods at his back, and only then he resumed his brooding.

"That was rude even for you Kardia…"

What the fuck? Did everybody want him to die of fright?

"What the hell do you want El Cid? It's not like you treat her better! After all, completely ignoring someone isn't much different than insulting, ne?"

He felt his companion sigh and move out of the shadows to sit near him. A small wave in the surrounding cosmos alerted him to the presence of his other companion.

"You sure about leaving your precious protégé with that snake? She might off dear little Sara in a fit of pique, don't you think?"

He had meant it as a joke, a crude one, but a joke nonetheless, but he was most surprised when Deuteros answered him.

"I do not think Helena would knowingly hurt Sara… for what I've seen she loves the girl and she is far too honourable for something like that!"

"Because you know a lot about honourable people, right Deuteros?"

"Enough Kardia! There is no need to be that rude and confrontational! I know you are worried for Degel, and I fear for Sisiphus as well, but that is no excuse for your behaviour! You know full well that if Degel was here he would be appalled!"

"WELL THAT'S EXACTLY IT YOU POMPOUS GOAT! DEGEL _ISN'T_ HERE! HE IS ON AN HOSPITAL BED, BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH LIKE YOUR PRECIOUS SISIPHUS, AND SASHA! AND ALL BECAUSE OF _THAT SNAKE!_ IF SHE HAD NEVER COME, THEY WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THIS SITUATION! THEY WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN RISKING THEIR LIVES! SO, DO NOT TELL ME I HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY RUDE TOWARDS HER, SHE DESERVES FAR WORSE FOR WHAT SHE HAS DONE!"

The silence that had descended after his outburst was thick and almost unbearable. He knew he had exaggerated, but he hadn't been able to keep everything bottled in anymore. When a faint sniff and a broken sob reached his ears he felt guilty for his outburst, but his stubborn pride was never going to let him apologize. After all what he had said had been the absolute truth. It was her fault if his companions, friends, were in that situation, and so it was her duty to fix her mistakes and then pay for them.

"Well Scorpio, let it not be said that you do not know how to _break_ a girl's heart! You should consider giving me lessons; in all my years I have never manage to get such a _crushing_ result…"

"Go to hell Deuteros!"

"I am already there, Kardia…and apparently you have just reached me…"

And with that he was gone.

"Go away El Cid, I don't want to talk…"

He felt the other get up and start walking away.

"You should try looking beyond your own prejudices Kardia. She isn't the monster you make her out to be…"

And with that he was gone as well.

_She isn't the monster you make her out to be…_What had El Cid meant with that? Had he really been that wrong?

But that question was destined never to be answered, for less than a minute later a powerful Cosmo materialized out of thin air in front of them.

"We have been found out! Take cover and do _not _get hit!"

The very object of his musings had pushed him back, into the forest while yelling for them to take cover…who did she think she was?

He was Scorpio no Kardia and _nobody_ was going to save him! And with that he charged forward into the thick of the battle.

"Kardia come back!"

The yell her young apprentice had let forth had the power to freeze on the spot. Of all the idiotic things to do, charging forward had probably been the worst of them all! But the golden scorpion had never been one to think things ahead, unfortunately.

Trying to convince herself to ignore the idiotic arthropod – if he wanted to kill himself she wasn't going to feel guilty about it – Helena focused instead on her young charge and her two companions.

The attack had taken them all by surprise, even more so because nobody had been paying attention to their surroundings due to being engaged in the lovely conversation in which the royal prat had finally manifested all of his feelings, especially the ones regarding her. Helena would have been lying if she admitted that his words had not wounded her, but since she had not _chosen_ to be _there_, in that time and period, in the middle of a new bloody war, she couldn't really be faulted for everything that had happened.

She had understood where Kardia was coming from, but that didn't give him the right to yell at her for the condition in which his companions laid. Didn't he understand that she was already feeling guilty? That she had never wanted any of them, her family and the others, to fight for her? _Because _of her?

When another enemy's attacks struck a bit too close for comfort she knew she had to stop ruminating on the past and start concentrating on the present if she wanted to get them out of that mess, preferably alive.

"Sara, listen to me! Stay protected at all times do you understand? Do not let them catch you, or you're done for!"

She could feel her apprentice trying to fight against her order, against what she thought was an order to take the cowardly way out and flee instead of fight.

"But…"

"Do as she says Sara! This is not the time for useless heroics! You don't have a Cloth, so stay _out of the way!_"

Capricorn El Cid admitting she was right?! Well miracles did happen sometimes! If only he had managed to sound less arrogant and more concerned it would have been perfect, but _alas_ she couldn't have everything!

"So…what's the plan girl?"

Deuteros and his omnipresent creepy grin…strange that, now that it wasn't directed at her, she found it comforting.

"No plan Gemini! Just stay alive and kill this filth!"

"I like the plan Ophiucus! Simple and direct! You could have been a fine Pope if you had wanted it…"

The Pope? Athena forbid it! She never wanted that role! Her brief period under Arles' tutelage, when he had taught her the secrets of the Ophiucus' attacks and the finesses of the Gemini ones, had been more than enough for her, and she didn't even have the role! No, if Athena ever bestowed on her the _honour _of being Pope she was going to run for the hills!

Having apparently read her mind Gemini no Deuteros left out a little chuckle and then proceeded to charge up his Cosmo, to better unleash his apocalyptic attacks.

At his back a rapidly expanding green Cosmo told her that the Capricorn Saint had readied himself for battle and the blood red burst in front at her left signalled the explosion of the scorpion's energy.

Knowing the enemy was upon them she readied herself as well.

"Watch me Sara! Watch what I will do and learn, 'cause there is no better training ground than a battle to show what you are capable of! Observe and remember my attacks because when you'll finally gain your Cloth they will be yours!"

She knew that they had been cruel, perhaps unnecessary so, with Sara. After all she had demonstrated that she was more than capable of holding her own ground during training. But this wasn't a practice round. This was a full out war and the most insignificant hesitation could cost oneself his or her own very life. Helena had known that taking Sara with her, without her Cloth, could prove a very risky gamble, but she had the almost certainty that her Cloth was going to manifest itself in the very journey. The fact that it hadn't still done so was worrisome, but she had faith in her constellation, and she was positive the Snake Master wasn't going to let her down.

"Scarlet Needle!"

"Galaxian Explosion!"

"Excalibur!"

"Rumble of the Basilisk!"

It had begun.


	20. La prima battaglia

Helena had never seen Gemini no Deuteros fight. She had, of course, heard all the stories – who hadn't, the man had been nothing short of a myth! – and the legends, the truths and the exaggerations, and she had thought she had gained a good understanding of his method of fighting by looking at Arles first and then Saga and Kanon later.

She knew him to be unstoppable, brutal and sometimes unnecessary cruel – legends had it that he crushed the opponent's cloth with his teeth – and overall a very good fighter in close quarters.

Reality, she discovered that night, could be far more frightening than legend: the man was a _war machine_. He fully lived up to his name: the Demon of Kanon Island. His style of fighting wasn't demonic, no, it was far _worse._

The battle hadn't even begun that he had _dismembered _the first line of soldiers – nothing that complicated she could admit, but killing was something, decapitating she could understand, dismembering was definitely in the "too much" territory – looking like it had been a piece of cake. And then he released another "Galaxian Explosion", this time in close quarters. She was sure that, even if their enemy had the power to bring people back to life, those enemies were never going to recover their body since it had been disintegrated into dust.

Helena had seen her favourite twins fight and she had thought them powerful and ruthless, but Gemini no Deuteros had taken his style to a whole new level. She was starting to respect that man.

"Like what you see darling?"

No, no respect whatsoever!

Taking a brief look around to assess the situation she couldn't help but feel a little dejected by the sight in front of her. The enemies were simply too many. The four of them, while powerful enough, were simply too few to even hope to escape. And it didn't really matter if she used all the attacks in her arsenal. Knowing that these thoughts would lead her nowhere she quickly shook her head and re-concentrated on the battlefield. They were going to get out of there one way or the other!

It could have been hours, it could have been days, Kardia couldn't really tell anymore. He had been bone tired before the fighting and now, with every burst of Cosmo, he was weakening more and more. Even though he wasn't in mortal peril anymore if he used too much strength – apparently Athena had decided to spare him that particular problem when she had granted them new life – the prolonged usage of his technique still left him weak and feverish. And that was exactly what he was in the middle of the damn battle!

He briefly looked around, trying to spot his companions, in order to try and reach them so they could regroup and maybe rethink their strategy, but amidst that horde of enemies only the bursts of their cosmos were visible. He could clearly see the bright green signalling the presence of El Cid and the sickly purple that indicated Deuteros. They were fighting relentlessly and he took the moment of calm in the middle of the battle to briefly observe them. It seemed that they had found a sort of truce together, like being Guardians of the same girl had managed to tame both their spirits and allow them to work together. If so he was more than happy for them, for going to battle with a trusted comrade – a friend even, his traitorous mind had supplied – was the best thing ever. His own heart gave a painful lurch in is chest when he thought about his trusted friend, Degel, lying way to pallid onto that hospital bed. He wasn't supposed to be there! Not on the bed! Degel's place had always been _beside_ the bed on which he, Kardia, laid weak and feverish, telling him not to die, and to stop being an idiot and push himself over his limits.

But in the previous battle Degel had done the unthinkable: he had pushed Kardia out of the way of the oncoming attack, shielding him with his body and thus taking a lot of damage and by extension, a lot of venom.

Degel had sacrificed himself for him during a battle neither of which had ever wanted to fight! A war that wasn't theirs, a war brought onto them by that disgusting vermin who was, unfortunately for them, the only one who knew of a cure for the venom.

Knowing that it was his duty, to Degel and Sasha, to keep that woman alive he briefly scanned the crowd looking for them and when he found her he couldn't ignore the wave of respect that had risen in him at the sight.

Because that woman – her name is Helena, is mind supplied – was right in the middle of a group of enemies who were being attacked by a multitude of golden snakes while the Snake Master was kung-fuing the ones her snakes had left behind.

But a moment of calm in the middle of a battle is a short time indeed and he had to go back to slay his own enemies before they slew him.

And it was for this reason that he completely missed the ray of energy directed towards his two companions. Only the desperate yell of the Ophiucus Saint had him look towards them and what he saw froze the blood in his veins.

"SARA! NOOOOOOOOOO!"

It couldn't be happening! It simply _could not be happening_! Helena was sure that it must have been a trick of the light, there could be no other possibilities. She didn't even want to contemplate the fact that her foolish student had done a very stupid thing!

Helena had been so in the thick of the battle that she had failed to notice that she had gotten separated from the others and even from the place in which Sara was hiding.

And that had been her most grievous mistake, for in the midst of attacks flying all around them one had stood out for sheer intensity and accuracy. She had seen it too late to stop it from impacting with the two Gold Saints, struggling together at her left. But while she hadn't managed to even see it, somebody else had. Sara had apparently seen everything from her hiding position and had reacted like any Ophiucus would have when her Guardians were threatened. She had shot out from the forest and had interposed herself between her Guardians and the oncoming slaughter.

Helena had seen all of this just a second too late to stop her and she had been forced to watch as her student's hastily erected barrier – she had been very good to even erect one in those dire conditions – crumple under the force of the attack. Helena had been forced to watch as the attack continued on its path, having been only partially deflected by the barrier, slashing through the Ophiucus Cloth – which had managed to appear just in time to cover her mistress – like it had been made of butter and then hit the two other Gold Saints behind Sara. Not even the hastily invoked "Another Dimension" had managed to absorb the attack fully, and so both Deuteros and El Cid had been brought down.

While she struggled to reach them another thing caught her attention: Kardia was still fighting but both the waning strength of his attacks and the less than precise aim told Helena that even he was at his limit.

Knowing she didn't have a lot of time if she hoped to save everyone she gathered the Cosmo for one last attack. Normally she would have never even thought to use it with her allies in the field alongside the enemies, but she knew that her time was limited and this was her best bet.

When her Cosmo had reached the necessary level she pointed her hands skyward and prayed that her attack wasn't going to be the one that killed them.

"Tears of the forgotten!"

Fat drops of venom started to fall from the sky and soon everything was over.

"Are you mad? You could have killed us with that stunt!"

Well, if anything, she hadn't killed _all_ of her companions…

"Not now Kardia!"

She couldn't deal with his idiotic scolding right now! She was perfectly aware that she could have killed them very easily, but she really hadn't seen another way out of that mess!

"I'll listen to you berating me later Kardia! And I'll even kneel in front of whatever punishment you'll see fit to dish out, but _now_ help me _find them_!"

She was aware that she had probably shocked him with her mention of a punishment but in that moment she couldn't care less. She had to find Sara and her two Guardians and assure herself that the growing list of dead by her hand hadn't grown with three allies, again.

She was still having nightmares from the times she had to kill her own brothers, she really didn't need anymore known faces to haunt her.

Together they combed through their fallen enemies and Kardia couldn't hold back a sliver of respect for the girl beside him. She was very powerful and he had been a regular bastard in pointing out the fact that her attack could have killed them. She had obviously been very aware of it, even before launching it but she hadn't seen another way out, to close things quickly and, judging from the huge amount of enemies in front of them, he started to believe she had been right, danger to them notwithstanding.

He had been gathering the courage to apologize to her for his rash words from earlier when a broken wail pierce the silence.

He watched with bated breath as Helena dug through the seemingly endless pile of corpses to uncover the ones of their companions and when she finally found them he couldn't hold back a chocked curse.

She had found them, yes, but those burnt and bent bodies could not be the ones of the proud Capricorn and arrogant Gemini. The two Gold Cloths had withstood the impact more or less intact – at least there wasn't anything Sion or Hakurei couldn't fix – but the flesh underneath them, well…he couldn't look at it without wanting to vomit.

"Heleiana…what…what ab-out…Sa-ra?"

"Shh El Cid, do not worry! She will be fine! Let me heal you and then you'll see for yourself!"

Heal them? How was she going to do that? They were broken beyond any healer's skill!

"Just watch Kardia, and admire the true power of the Ophiucus Saint!"

He watched her, still sceptic about her chances of victory in that battle, but under his eyes a miracle started to occur.

A soft golden light enveloped her and his two companions while her long hair, now partially outside their bindings, moved slightly with the breeze of her gentle Cosmo.

She put one delicate hand on each man and she began pouring out her Cosmo, towards the two of them. And so it happened that under his watchful gaze their wounds started to close and the broken bodies started to heal. They were nearly as good as new when a rough hand engulfed her tiny one and stopped the flow of energy.

"That's enough girl! We will survive even if you do not complete the job! Find Sara now, she will need your help more than we do!"

He watched as she nodded slightly, to acknowledge Deuteros' words, a small smile playing on her lips. Smile that quickly died when she realized the desperate conditions in which her apprentice lay.

The cloth had at least partially protected her and so had the barrier but it hadn't been enough.

He could hear Helena murmuring soft words of encouragement, of praise for the correct use of the barrier and the summoning of the cloth, of anger when she scolded the girl lightly for having come out of her hiding place to do such a stupid thing.

All the while the multi-coloured Cosmo of the older Ophiucus shining brightly to try and heal the worst of the damage on the younger saint.

After what had seemed an eternity he watched Helena power down her Cosmo, weak and feeble after its massive use, and take her hands off her student's chest.

"I have done all I can for her, but now, here, I can do no more. She needs a hospital and a healer, and more importantly she needs rest. She is exhausted both from the wounds and from the fact that she had conjured her first full-out barrier and summoned her cloth all in the space of five minutes. Plus she had been injected the venom like the others, so she will steadily get worse. She needs to be taken back to Sanctuary!"

Kardia hadn't been that surprised by Helena's verdict, and he was even less surprised when both of her Guardian volunteered to go back, starting then to argue which one was going back and which was staying.

"You are _both_ going back! And it's final!"

He had tuned out most of the conversation, but the final command had been very difficult to ignore. Why was she sending them both back?

"Girl, you probably haven't understood how this is going to work! If we have been found once it means that we can be found again, so it would be pretty stupid to let you two wonder alone in case of an attack!"

"Deuteros, I don't care how much logic or rank you're going to pull on me, you are going back!"

Kardia could hear him growling from a good distance and for an instant he worried about Helena's safety.

"Stop growling you oversized dog! In case you haven't noticed you two have been wounded by the enemy! And this means that you both have the same venom as Sara running through your veins! Even if you wanted to help me you would be more hindrance than help, so go back to Sanctuary with Sara, keep her safe and keep the others alive until I come back!"

Wait a second! What did she mean by "_I_ come back"?

"You aren't seriously considering going alone right?"

"Kardia, please trust me! I will not flee with the antidote! It's better for everybody if you go with them! You are not wounded, you'll be more helpful to them than to me! I can take care of myself!"

The subtext "you hate my guts" went unspoken but he heard it very well.

"Forget it! I am coming with you and it's final! The more you'll resist this, the more time we'll lose! So suck it up! You're stuck with me!"

He could feel the surprise coming from his companions and Helena as well, but he stubbornly refused to look at them in the eye and they finally relented.

It took them more than an hour to prepare El Cid and Deuteros for the journey back, but in the end they were both ready to go, Sara secured on El Cid's back.

"Listen you two! Follow this golden light, it'll take you back to Sanctuary! It is linked with my Guardians' Cloths so it won't lose the way! Please, stay safe and keep Sara and the others safe!"

The unspoken plea that Kardia's eyes gave them was received with a small nod from the both of them who, in turn, tasked him with Helena's protection.

As the sun started to rise the three of them were off, running towards Sanctuary and he was left with the person he thought he hated most in the world.

"Let's go Ophiucus! We still have a long way to go, and no more time to lose!"

And without looking back to check if she was following him, he started the long trek towards their goal.


	21. Lo Scorpione e la bambina

"Come on Kardia…do not die do you hear me? Do not _die_ you idiotic arthropod! You are not allowed to stop breathing! Please Kardia! Come on…don't make me beg, please! I know you hate me, Scorpio, but please don't die just to spite me! Think about Degel, about Sasha! About whoever you want, but please, hold on!"

Helena was frantically trying to staunch the blood flowing far too fast out of her companion's body, all the while begging him shamelessly to wake up, to keep on living. She knew very well he hated her, but she really couldn't reciprocate. For all his venomous words and cruel acts, she had come to care for him, as well as the other two, who she really hoped had re-joined the others at Sanctuary.

And to think they had been making very good progresses in their relationship, when that devastating apocalypse had come out of nowhere.

_"__It's _that_ way, Scorpio!"_

_"__It's the _other _way, snake!"_

_"__How in Athena's name do you know which direction is the right one, you moron? You don't even know _where_ we are going!"_

_And with that Helena had finally managed to shut her loud companion once and for all. While turning from him, to look at the long hike they were about to start she had caught a glimpse of a smile, quickly hidden, and she had quietly smiled to herself; it seemed that the aloof façade was finally crumbling down._

_"__Go to bed Ophiucus! I'll take first watch, I am not tired at the moment and if you yawn one more time your chin might fall off!"_

_"__I didn't really know that you cared, Kardia!"_

_"__Fuck you, Ophiucus!"_

_He had bodily thrown her on the makeshift bed, but he hadn't called her "filthy snake" once! And that, Helena thought, was a very big victory._

_"__You are pushing yourself too hard Heleiana! You twisted your foot, but if you continue to walk and put your weight on it, it'll never heal!"_

_"__Are you saying I'm fat, Kardia?"_

_"__How is it that you, women, twist very word we, poor men, say? Is there even a small chance of making you happy?"_

_"__Nope! But you learn fast Kardia! You'll figure it out!"_

_He hadn't even realized he had called her by her given name, but she had and she couldn't have been happier!_

_"__Your dinner Kardia…"_

_"__Thank you, Helena…the stars are beautiful tonight, stay here, look at them with me…"_

_"__My pleasure, my friend…"_

They had made so much progress in the small amount of time they had been forced to spend together. Helena had managed to make him see that she wasn't a threat and Kardia had finally tore down that "bad boy attitude" and revealed himself like the cuddly teddy bear she knew all scorpion saints to be.

The night of the incident they had been swapping stories of their childhood, more like lifelong friends than two people who had been mortal enemies until a week before.

_"__So tell me, Helena, how is it that you can replicate Aquarius' attacks so seamlessly? You almost looked like Degel when you froze me…"_

_"__Seamlessly Kardia? Really? 'Cause let me tell you, there is nothing easy in those attacks! Now that I think about it, they are probably the most difficult attacks I ever had to master!"_

_"__Seriously? I would have thought Virgo's attacks would have proved more of a challenge…"_

_She had stayed silent after that. He had been right, of course, Virgo's attacks had been more challenging that Aquarius' ones – not the worst of them – but she didn't really felt comfortable enough to tell him she had mastered those attacks and could launch them as well as their true owner._

_"__If you don't want to talk about it, forget I have even asked…"_

_"__Oh no, Kardia! Don't worry! I was simply reminiscing about my first lessons with each and every Gold Saint. How they despised me…I never thought any human being could hate or ignore somebody else that much, but every single one of them had proven me wrong…"_

_At that it had been Kardia's turn to gape at her._

_"__Hate you? Those men worship the ground you walk on! You should have seen them after Manigoldo had told them you had died! I had never felt that kind of power, that amount of heartbreak from anybody! It was like they weren't even living in all the time you weren't with them. I have seen your Pope and your Cancer Saint bloom anew when they found you again. So how do you expect me to believe that those very men who had been ready to turn reality apart to bring you back to them, could really hate you?"_

_"__You are very generous to think they worship me Kardia…but I'll have you know that our relationship hasn't always been _tutta rose e fiori!"

_"__I find it really hard to believe it dear Helena…"_

_"__Then I'll tell you one story that I think will make you believe me: I'll tell you the story of a dark haired Adonis with eyes the colour of the sea, as changing and movable like a marine storm. _

_He had been twelve when I had first arrived at his doorstep. I was seven, almost eight the day I climbed all the steps towards his house. I was young and naïve; I had been wearing a new dress, a pale pink flowery dress. I had bought it just for him, to impress him, because I had been told he liked pretty girls._

_I had climbed all those steps to talk to him, to persuade him to let me become his student. Technically he was too young to take students. He had just been given his own cloth, but my instructions had been clear: I had to study under all of them in the least amount of time possible. I had chosen him as her first, apart from my Guardians, because he had been the youngest of them all, the one with the sunniest smile. _

_When I arrived at his house he wasn't out in front of it to greet me, like he had greeted all the other Saints before. I tried to expand my senses, like the Pope had told me, in order to find him and once I had localized him, in the far corner of his own house, I bounded there to greet him, ready to make a new friend._

_But there was no friendship to start that day. The young Adonis had come out from behind a column, bloody red nail at the ready, and I didn't even see the attack. The only thing I heard was the faint ripping sound of my new dress, and I felt the excruciating pain of his poison starting to take effect._

_After the third one I was in a blindingly white world of pain. Never in all of my brief lifetime I had felt such excruciating pain. But what was more painful was the sneer on his beautiful face and the fact he had ripped my pretty dress, a dress I had chosen just for him._

_While I was still on the floor he got close, close enough to whisper something I will never forget: You, who associated yourself with scum like Cancer and Pisces, will never even be worthy of my needle. Get out of my temple and never come back!"_

_The silence after her little story made her smile. Kardia was looking at her like she had somehow sprouted another head, and Helena found it absolutely hilarious!_

_"__You must be kidding! There is no way that Milo of Scorpio, the same one that threatened me with dismembering because I had hurt you, did _that_ to you!"_

_"__Oh, believe me Kardia! He did! And I have the scars to prove it!"_

_"__What happened next? Something must have happened for that young man to turn into the bloody guard dog I saw in the last months…"_

_"__My mulish nature happened apparently! I have always been way too stubborn even for my own sake, always wanting something more, taking a step further, jumping a little higher. I came back as soon as I was able to stand up without everything burning and I begged him to take me as his student. The answer was always the same: Scarlet Needle! In time I managed to withstand without crumbling all the fourteen hits before Antares and given even more time, I managed to do so without even feeling them anymore. Until one day…"_

_Helena stopped the recollection when a particularly nasty image of that day came flashing back through her mind. Steeling herself she prepared to relive that nasty experience once again._

_"__He had never used Antares on me, not even when it had become apparent that I could master his venom. But he had started to teach me how to manipulate my Cosmo in order to express the power behind the Scorpio's sting and in all of that time, I could safely say that we had become a little friend-lier that when we had started. It has been snowing that week, a rare occurrence in Greece, and Milo had finally decided to make his move with the one holding his heart. I didn't know it then, but Camus had rejected his offer and had departed for Siberia, to start training his pupils. That very night I felt a disturbance coming from the Eight House, a deep seated pain from the usually cheerful Saint. I was bunking with Aphrodite that night and so it was easy for me to go down to the Eight without being caught. I entered his house without being detected, Cosmo so low it was almost imperceptible and then, finally, I arrived in his bedroom. He was having a nightmare, calling out to Camus in the throes of it. Unthinkingly I got closer and closer, until I was just on top of him. I had wanted to shake him awake, to tell him that he wasn't alone, that he had friends even if Camus had rejected him. And that, maybe, the Aquarius was just scared and he had reacted without thinking. They were all good things to say, pity I never managed to say them. I hadn't even touched him that he had bolted awake, Cosmo blazing, one needle at the ready, the other deep into my chest, red and pulsing like the Antares he had launched against me. That night was the turning point. During that fateful night we got from frenemies to brother and sister. That night ranks in my personal top five of "nights to forget". If I had thought that the normal needle was excruciating, it was nothing like Antares. He stayed by my side all night long, begging me not to give up, crying my name and cursing the stars for that predicament. In that night I managed to finally harness the power of the Scorpio and the power of the Aquarius, because nothing can stop the fire of the Scarlet Needle, except the absolute zero of the Eleventh House…and that's my story, Kardia! What do you think?"_

Helena had never managed to find out what exactly her companion had thought about her story because in that very moment everything around them had started to collapse.

At first, when she had finally emerged from the rubble, she had thought at an attack, but when no enemies manifested on the horizon and she had taken a look around she had understood. The night before they had camped on a ledge of the mountain. They had been so very close to the meadow in which the plan she needed grew and for that reason, since it had grown very late, they had decided to camp on the neighbouring ledge. What had hit them hadn't been a surprise attack but just a bloody stone avalanche.

She had bitten back a curse when she had tried to stand only to discover both her legs had broken, but when she had managed to crawl to where she had last seen Kardia, she let loose the curse stuck in her throat. They hadn't been wearing their Cloths, a bit risky but the cave at the back of the ledge had a hot spring they had used to bathe and so they hadn't felt the need to put them back on. And so now, with nothing to protect him, Kardia's body had taken the very brunt of the damage, like her legs.

Helena knew she had hit her head, just like him, if the headache and the blood slowly trickling down her neck were any indication and she was very aware of the fact that a possible concussion was going to affect the use of her Cosmo to heal.

They had been so close…

She bit back a sob when she understood just how precarious was her companion's hold on life and she shamelessly cried his name while her hands dirtied with his blood.

"Lea-ve me…he-re…Hel-ena…I cann-ot m-ove, and you nee-d to go and t-ake…take…that pl-ant!"

"No! If I leave you here you'll die! I cannot heal you, not even a little bit!"

The bloody smile he gave her made her understand that he had been very aware of that fact, and he had accepted his own death in repayment for everybody else's life.

"No! I will not accept this Kardia! You will not die, not on my watch!"

With a huge burst of Cosmo she called to her the Ophiucus Cloth, knowing that the golden exoskeleton would be perfect to keep her leg bones from misaligning. Luckily the stars seemed to favour her that night and she managed to stand up and find her backpack, with her basic medical supplies. She arranged makeshifts bandages on Kardia's torso, legs and head and then, with another burst of Cosmo, she called his Cloth to do her bidding and managed to rearrange it to cover him.

Next, she knew, came the tricky part. With tears in her eyes she bent over the golden scorpion and, with a bit of pushing and pulling and overall pain, she managed to strap him on her back. The avalanche had pushed them over the ledge and she knew that she needed to climb back up.

"Leave…me…he-re…you stubb..o..rn gi-rl!"

Jaw set in determination she didn't even bother to reply him and started the difficult and dangerous climb back up. She had never left an ally behind, she wasn't going to start with a friend. The shift of the hand on her shoulder told her she had spoken that particular thought out loud, but she found out she didn't care if the scorpion still hated her. She wasn't going to leave him behind, and that was final.

The crawl back up the ledge took almost all the remaining night but, apparently, her problems weren't finished yet.

She felt three powerful and threatening cosmos fast approaching and, even knowing she was no match for them, she gently set Kardia down and prepared to fight.

Knowing she couldn't fight standing she kneeled and closed her eyes, praying Athena to give her one last burst of Cosmo, to destroy her enemies.

When she felt them closing in she finally opened her eyes, releasing all her energy left in one last attack.

"Oi Helena! Why the fuck did you try and shoot us? And what the hell happened here?"

That voice, those cosmos! Now she recognized them!

"Rhadamantys! Minos! Aiacos! Help us!"


	22. Svegli

"Aaah…my head! It's killing me!"

Never in his life Wyvern no Rhadamantys had ever heard a sweeter sound than his boyfriend's whining.

"Kanon! You are finally awake!"

In a burst of light speed he materialized by his side, glass of water at the ready and, probably, a lovesick gaze in his eyes. He could already hear his brother Minos mutter something rude about his _unbecoming_ crush on the Gemini Saint, but he ignored him, too happy his boyfriend was finally awake to care.

"Rhadamantys? Where am I?"

He saw him blink owlishly, trying to make sense of the strange bed he was lying on, in an even stranger room with far more beds than he had ever seen.

Upon looking at the beds, and more importantly at their occupants, he saw his face twist in a worried expression, rapidly turning into downright panic.

"Saga?! Athena!"

Before the idiotic Saint could even think about moving from the bed Rhadamantys had already pushed him back down, gentleness behind his harsh move.

"Stop it Rhada! I need to know if they're ok! I need to see it for myself!"

The General sighed, cursing under his breath the stubbornness of Gemini and the idiocy of both his brothers he could hear snickering under their breath at his back.

"They are fine Kanon! A bit battered, a lot bruised, with a Cosmo so pitiful such I had never seen, but undeniably alive! Now, stay horizontal or do I need to force you?"

"I am hoping I heard it wrong Judge! Because from where I am standing it looked like a proposition, to my younger brother nonetheless!"

"Saga! You are ok!"

Only the strong conviction that the murder of the Pope wouldn't have helped his relationship with Kanon, stalled Rhadamantys' hand. That and the fact that he never wanted to face a pissed off Helena _ever _again! That one time outside Hades' castle had been more than enough and he, Rhadamantys of the Wyvern, one of the Three Infernal Judges, right hand of Lord Hades, didn't really want to repeat the experience.

"Saga?"

"Aioros! You're awake!"

Oh, nice…The _nicest_, more honest, and frankly more gullible Saint of all Sanctuary had finally opened his eyes. Why didn't Hades-sama detained his soul at least until he and his brothers had gone?

"Brother! What happened?"

"We have been attacked…"

"You don't say Milo! I wonder how you managed to make the connection!"

"Death Mask! But…"

Oh bother! They were _all_ waking up! Planning a strategic retreat, and having seen his brothers do exactly the same thing, Rhadamantys tried to blend in with the shadows, all the while enjoying the show that the Leo, the Scorpio and the Cancer Saints were giving him and the astonished Gemini twins and Sagittarius.

"Do you really need to be that loud?"

The resounding yell of "MU! You are awake!" had the Aries Saint flinch from the sheer volume and the Judge couldn't help but snicker. If he had known that, upon awakening, the Gold Saints would have been _this_ entertaining, he wouldn't have fought so much against Helena's request that they protect them. And judging from the barely hidden smirks that both Minos and Aiacos were sporting, his brothers were thinking exactly the same thing.

"The level of noise you are making impedes my concentration on the Buddha's teachings…"

The pompous phrase and the boisterous laugh that drowned every other noise, making the Aries flinch again, told Rhadamantys that the Virgo Saint and the Taurus had re-joined the land of the living. Pity, it looked like the healing powers of Ophiucus had struck true once again. But, maybe, just maybe, one of them would grace Hell before their time and he would be delighted to assign them to Cocytus once again.

"Stop it Milo! You are suffocating me!"

Attracted by the possibility of an impending demise, Rhadamantys' yellow eyes focused on the Aquarius' bed that, in that very moment, was housing two different Saints: the frigid ice cube and his lunatic boyfriend who was trying to suffocate said ice cube in a hug, all the while yelling how scared he had been to lose "his precious Camus", while the Aquarius' awkwardly patted his head, trying to disengage from the octopus-like grip.

Shaking his head in barely suppressed scorn he felt Kanon's gaze on him and he looked his way, yellow eyes conveying that, while he enjoyed the fact that the younger Gemini was alive, he, a Judge, wasn't going to come down from his safe spot until all that madness had calmed down.

"Children! Calm down! You are Saints of Athena! Behave in a manner befitting your station!"

And like thunder on a clear day the booming voice of the oldest of the Gold idiots finally had enough power to calm all of them down. Rhadamantys was a bit disappointed in that, he had hoped to, let's say, exercise himself a little on those idiots. But his entertainment would have to wait.

"Remind me never to cross you, my friend..."

"Oh, Shura! You are awake as well! How are you my friend?"

The gentle question of the Sagittarius Saint had the power to bring more joy, if a little more sedate than before, into the midst.

"So we are all finally awake then!"

"No Milo…we are not…Aphrodite hasn't even stirred…"

And with those lapidary words the older Gemini Saint had brought once again the sadness into that lot.

If he hadn't been positive that even Kanon would murder him before asking for an explanation Rhadamantys would have laughed out loud. How in Hades name did those pathetic Saints _survived_ the Holy War when they couldn't even feel such a huge shift in the Cosmo? Well, _technically_, they _hadn't_ survived the War. It had only been thanks to their fluffy Goddess that they were even alive, not that the Judge was complaining. After all if Athena hadn't been struck by guilt he would have lost the best sex _ever_!

But back to the entertaining show he was witnessing, the Judge shifted a little to find a more confortable position from where to observe the mayhem he was sure it was about to happen.

"What's with the long faces? Did anybody die?"

Rhadamantys and his brothers would have laughed till their deaths if they hadn't been afraid of spoiling the hilarious show that the twelve Gold Saints were giving them.

"Aphrodite?"

"Yes, Shura…it's me! Why are you all looking at me like I have, somehow, risen from the grave?"

The slightly deranged laugh of the Cancer Saint filled the heavy and uneasy silence of the room, followed by a chocked sob that the silver haired idiot had tried to swallow.

Taking pity on the Swedish _primadonna_, whose face was twisting into an expression of vague panic – no doubt courtesy of the pitiful show that Cancer was regaling them with – the Wyvern decided to jump down from his perch and join the conversation.

"To be completely technical, Pretty Princess, you _have_ risen from your grave. Twice… so they might be perfectly within their rights in looking at you like that…not that I do not find it funny…"

"What happened? Can somebody tell me please?"

"Don't you _dare_ Spectre!"

"And what will you do to me, useless crab? Pinch me?"

Steadily ignoring the spluttering mumbling coming from Cancer, Rhadamantys joined his two brothers in the middle of the room and, with the boring monotone he was famous for, brought up to speed the bewildered Gold Saint.

"I died?! Oh my…wait! What happened to Phi? Did I at least save her?"

"Oh…you managed to do more than save Phi apparently Pisces! You brought _her_ back…"

"What do you mean I brought _her _back? Don't tell me…no…it's not possible…are you _sure?_"

Rhadamantys could very well see that the story had completely shocked the other man, but he had to admit that he had admired his, almost, collected behaviour. A façade, though, one that had crumpled like a castle of cards when he had mentioned Helena.

The Judge could see the other man starting to hyperventilate, a sure sign of a panic attack, but before he could even think about doing anything, he was roughly pushed out of the way by an uncharacteristically worried Cancer Saint.

Saint who was now on the Pisces' bed, with the pretty princess in a bear hug, all the while whispering soothing nonsense to calm him down.

"Shh, Dite…stop panicking…she's _alive!_ I can guarantee you this! She is well! She is _back!_"

"I need to see her…"

And that was a huge problem!

As if realizing in that very moment that the petite Ophiucus Saint was still missing all the Saints went straight into "panic mode".

"Where is she? What happened to her?"

"Yeah, Rhadamantys…what have you done to her? Did you take advantage of the fact that I was down for the count and she was badly injured to kill her?"

Kardia of Scorpio…he should have known! Rhadamantys had to admit, amidst all the chaos the Gold Saints were doing, he had completely forgotten about the other idiots in the room. Idiots that had apparently woken up, hell bent on creating the worst possible mess…

"Badly injured? Killed her? Wyvern! Explain yourself NOW! I had tasked you three with Helena's protection, with the role of Guardians, what DID YOU DO?"

Before the Judge could even think to open his mouth, somebody else beat him to the punch.

"You signed away the role of Guardians? OUR ROLE? Death Mask, how could you?"

The confrontation had reached dangerous levels. They were all still injured and way too panicky to think straight. One wrong breath and everything was going to explode like a Santa Barbara.

"ENOUGH ALL OF YOU! COSMIC MARIONETION!"

Silver threads appeared out of nowhere binding all of the inhabitants of the room like a bunch of overgrown turkeys.

"Everyone shut up! If I hear one peep from you, you will not have to worry about your hell anymore, because I'll personally send you there this instant! I will tell you the story, and I will not repeat it, got it?"

A bunch of muttered agreements was the only answer that the Griphon got – not that the others could have produced anything better with the bindings so closely wrapped up on their mouths.

"First of all…Helena's alive…"

_"__Rhadamantys! Minos! Aiacos! Help us!"_

_Griphon no Minos hadn't been very sure about the favour they had accepted to do in the name of Cancer; after all it was one thing to have sporadic interactions with the Gold Saints of Athena, but taking on the role of Guardians for the most powerful of those Saints was another matter entirely. Furthermore Ophiucus had been the very Saint Hades-sama and all the Spectres had wanted as part of their team. But he, and his brothers, had not been able to deny what was obviously the last request of the dying Cancer Saint. And when he had taken in the dire situation in which the idiotic girl had managed to find herself in, the Griphon couldn't help but be happy that they had accepted the job._

_Aside from the fact that, what was supposed to be, her best attack had barely managed to _worry_ the three of them, the dull and dark veins in her golden Cosmo had immediately alerted the Judges that something was very, very, wrong._

_First, she was kneeling, and even in that position she looked like she was about to collapse any moment; second, only one of the golden boys that he knew were supposed to have accompanied her, was visible, and he was laying down, obviously too far gone to be of any help. But what had happened? Why was the Ophiucus alone and obviously injured?_

_"__Oh Athena! You have no idea how happy I am to see you guys! But, how were you able to find me?"_

_"__Your Guardian gave us this, so that we could find you…"_

_When Helena had seen exactly what Aiacos was showing her, Minos hadn't really expected that reaction: "Death Mask, you idiot! You better not be dead when I come back or I'll personally call your soul back from the dead to send you back there!"_

_Knowing he was missing something vital, after all nobody exploded in that way when presented with something as banal as a key ring, Minos shook his head to let go of that train of thought. It wasn't really necessary for him to know the gritty details of Helena's day to day life – the voice in his head kept reminding him that, while he didn't _need_ to know them he really wanted to – especially not while they obviously had bigger fishes to fry. _

_"__What happened here?"_

_As always Rhadamantys went straight to the point. Minos hadn't really been sure about what to expect but the story Helena told them couldn't really begin to cover his wildest fantasies._

_Apparently the journey had been peaceful enough – somehow he severely doubted the last statement, if her tiredness and lingering sadness were to be taken into account – until four days prior when a small army of their enemies had attacked out of nowhere. In the subsequent battle the young Ophiucus had managed to blast herself into oblivion alongside both her protectors and for this reason Helena had sent them all back to Sanctuary, promising to find the antidote quickly, with the help of the only Gold Saint left._

_Gold Saint who had, apparently, lost his battle against a stone avalanche that had knocked him out cold – with a lot of internal damage as well, if Minos' eyes hadn't deceived him. Helena had been caught in the avalanche as well, but her prognosis, at least, didn't put her directly on death's door, even though two broken legs and a definite concussion weren't something to take lightly. _

_"__I need your help now, please! Can you carry us both to the meadow on the other side of this mountain? It's the place I have been looking for. I just need five minutes there and then we'll be on our way…"_

_Carry them? What were they? Bloody show ponies?_

_Apparently he had voiced that particular thought out loud because the next thing he knew was that Helena had turned her beautiful, big, watery eyes on him!_

_"__Please Minos? Can you take us to the meadow and back to Sanctuary? I know you don't usually carry people around and I would never think of you as a pony, but I _need_ to get to Sanctuary with the antidote…"_

_He had meant to say no, all of them had; but then Helena had used her trump card, the only thing that would have made Rhadamantys change his mind._

_"__If I don't get back Kanon will _die_… and I cannot walk with this injury…"_

_With that she had just gotten herself a personal slave until the mission was over._

_Truth to be told his brother had protested – and loudly at that – when she had motioned for them to pick up the fallen Saint. After all the Wyvern hadn't really forgotten the mad scorpion and his burning needle. But even that protest had quickly met its swift death when the conniving bitch had stated that she wasn't going to move without the arthropod, and so, with his boyfriend's life on the balance, Rhadamantys had been forced to submit._

_At the very least the journey back had been uneventful: the plant had proven very easy to find – Helena had said that the challenge wasn't finding the plant itself, but the path to get there, and whoever managed to do this was granted easy access to the thing they most needed, Minos wasn't sure he had understood, but she had been happy and he hadn't been about to complain – and after that it had been a smooth flight back to Sanctuary. And if the Griphon had enjoyed the feeling of the young girl in his arms, well nobody had noticed anything and he sure wasn't going to tell them!_

_Trouble had started again when they had neared Sanctuary and the soldiers guarding the entrances thought they were enemies and tried to shoot them down on the account that they were harbouring Ophiucus the Fallen and they had with them an obviously injured Kardia of Scorpio – Minos didn't understand how they thought that the three Infernal Judges had brought _back_ one of their enemies, alive on top of everything else, instead of letting him rot somewhere else. Fortunately, for the soldiers since they had never been in any danger, Capricorn no El Cid had miraculously appeared, alongside Gemini no Deuteros and had promptly stopped the soldiers from taking, very badly aimed shots, at them._

_Helena's face upon seeing them had lit like a Christmas tree and even the usual stoic and unyielding faces of the other two Saints had obviously displayed joy at the sight. Joy that had quickly turned to worry when they had taken stock of the very bad conditions both Helena and Scorpio were in._

"After that it has been a piece of cake for Helena to perform her magic and _voilà_, you are all here, and in less than five minutes from waking up you have managed to destroy my very limited patience and almost undo everything Helena has done for you!"

The last bit, while spoken in the same collected and almost bored tone, had the instant result the Griphon had been hoping it would. Upon mentioning the work done by the resident healer everybody had stopped struggling against his Cosmic Marionetion, suddenly very afraid of ruining the meticulous handiwork their little girl had done. After all a pissed off Ophiucus was a very scary thing to behold!

"You said she had broken both her legs and had a concussion, but you also mentioned that she had been able to heal us, so she shouldn't be in any danger, right? Unless you have conveniently forgotten to tell us something else…so why isn't she here now?"

"Relax Pisces, I haven't forgotten anything! She isn't dying if that's what you wanted to know, she is just sleeping! After all, if you haven't notice, it's 2 o'clock in the morning…you just picked a very inconvenient time to wake up!"

Minos watched them digest the new information, slightly more relaxed about the missing girl than they had been. He knew that the Aries Saint had scanned his demeanour trying to find out if he had somehow been lying and the subtle nod he gave his companions told them that Minos hadn't been lying.

Just as the Griphon decided to unwind the silvery strings from the modern Saints – the XVIII century ones were still wrapped up like presents until he thought they didn't constitute a liability – Aphrodite's voice rung out in the silence of the night.

"Tell me where her room is, I need to see her!"

"I already told you doll, she is _sleeping_! I had thought that you, of all people, would understand the fact that she had been put through the wringer one too many times and she needs to recover!"

"I don't want to wake her up you moron! I simply want to reassure myself that she is really here…"

Minos knew Pisces wasn't going to harm Helena, but the fact they he so was so adamant in wanting to see her had him somehow disturbed. Like he didn't want to share the young Saint with anybody else, which was just preposterous!

"You are a very dedicated Guardian Pisces, are you not? And here I thought you didn't want the world at large to see you so run down…after all you have a _reputation_ to uphold, right?"

In that moment Minos realized two things: one, that he had never seen the other Saint without his pleasantly neuter expression on his face; two, Aphrodite's sneer could have curdled milk for all the venom he had managed to inflict in one single expression.

"I. Do. Not. _Fucking_. Care. I have had it with that _reputation_! And if that's the only thing that's keeping me from checking on _my_ baby sister, than _good riddance_!"

"Do you know how long I have waited for you to say this, _kare bror?_"

"Helena?"


	23. Finalmente tutti

She was there! She was really there! After almost six months of agonizing ignorance on her whereabouts, she was finally here, within reach, and for that Aphrodite felt the need to profusely thank every deity he knew of for the miracle they had granted to him.

He didn't even feel the Griphon's strings detaching from his body, didn't pay attention to the fact that his brothers in arms had subtly shifted to allow him better access to the girl they had all been waiting for. Somehow none of this registered in Dite's mind except the fact that she was there. She looked stunning, long hair loosely plaited for the night, her body half hidden in the shadows, half bathed in the moonlight.

Aphrodite knew that every fibre of his being hurt like he was on fire, an unfortunate side effect of his reconnection with the girl in front of him, but in that moment, when she started to run towards him and he found himself doing the same, none of that mattered anymore.

He had barely managed to open his arms and plant his feet firmly on the ground before she barrelled into his chest, crying his name, broken sobs racking through her slim frame. Watching her cry had always been very high on the list of things he despised – in all of their years together somehow he had never managed to find a way to calm her down and he had always had to resort to watch her helplessly, trying to figure out how it was possible that Death Mask of all people had better skill than him at this – but today, for the first time in years, he knew what he had to do.

He brought his arms up to better encircle the girl who had leeched herself onto his chest and simply held her, burying his nose into her hair to better reacquaint himself to her presence.

Oh, how he loved those hair of hers! Softer than silk and long enough to do basically every hairstyle that had crossed his mind, Helena's hair had been the first bonding point the two of them had managed to develop.

Aphrodite remembered very well that day: it had been raining, but that hadn't been a good enough reason for Arles to stop the training of the young Ophiucus and, in any case, his roses had never had a problem with a bit of water from the sky. The training itself had been gruesome; the Arena had become so muddy and slick that even something as trivial as keeping the balance had started to sound like a very difficult task. As it were, Aphrodite himself had already fallen down twice and gotten mud everywhere on him – at thirteen, like he had been, mud on himself had been one of the worst sins ever committed – but the young girl of seven and a half years in front of him, had taken the definition of muddy to a whole new level. She was positively _covered_ in mud!

As any good Guardian was supposed to, he had offered her his house's bath to wash away the grime, trying not to wince at the mud trail she had left all over his pristine halls. But when he had gotten out of his own bath, he had been faced with the most adorable scene ever: in front of one of the many mirrors he had lying around, with her tongue shyly peeking out, he had found his young charge completely absorbed in her task: braiding her hair, which were, at that time, barely shoulder length.

After a considerable amount of time and effort she had finally managed to tame them into some sort of lopsided braid that had him wince at the sight.

Upon hearing him approach she had turned to greet him and show off her hard-won work when her lilac eyes had met his thunderous blue ones. Without a word he had held his hand out, in a silent command to give him the brush and after a second of defiance she had complied. Five minutes later she could show the world her new hairstyle, a simple French braid, and Aphrodite could finally breath a little easier: after all he couldn't allow her to go around looking like a gypsy, even if he hated her!

Unbeknownst to him, that first braid had laid the foundation of the solid bond that had traversed both time and death and had brought them in that very moment, around 2 o'clock in the morning in a place very far away from their reality, she in his arms and he with his nose in her hair.

He was jolted out of his reverie by the sudden movement of the girl in his arms. Giving her some space to wiggle but not enough to break what contact they shared he looked down, his blue eyes, meeting her lilac ones.

"Sorry, for the shirt…I just bawled my eyes out like an hormonal teenager…sorry"

He slightly chuckled at her interesting choice of words: she had sounded so like Death Mask that it wasn't really a mystery why everybody thought they were blood related.

"At least it isn't mud…or worse…"

At that he heard her chuckle and in that very moment, a knot that had fisted in his stomach loosened. She was back!

He let the silence fall around them while his eyes roamed on her figure, cataloguing every microscopic change. His face took on a progressively disapproving frown and when Helena chuckled upon seeing it, he couldn't help but frown further.

She looked _awful_! Her soft hair, now hung limply and without the usual shine, circles under her eyes that were so black he was afraid they'd be permanent, slightly hunched position and laboured breath that told him she had sustained more injuries than the ones Minos had told them and she had still her leg guards on, which meant that she hadn't been able to heal the fractured bones in her legs. But what scared him the most was her Cosmo, usually so vast and brilliant that it looked like a sun. At that very moment it looked more like a _dying_ sun than anything else: gold brilliance dulled to a disturbing brass colour, deep and angry dark veins that seemed to pulse in time with her exhaustion. He had theoretically knew she had a limit like everybody else, but he had never been around to see it – he had a sinking suspicion she had looked like this, after their deaths, but he had never had the courage to ask - and to see it now, was beyond unsettling.

"When was the last time you had a decent meal, a proper bath and a good night sleep?"

"You mean when was the last time I ate something other than camp food, had more than a dunk in freezing water for hygienic purposes and slept more than three hours straight?"

The nonchalant way in which she had confirmed all of his fears had him bristled on the inside, but he knew that in that very moment she was as fragile as fine china so he simply nodded his assent, trying not to take out his anger on her.

"Well…my sleeping patterns have gone awry when I got kidnapped, as for everything else…well the wilderness isn't renowned for confortable bath tubs in the middle of nowhere and fancy restaurants to stop at! Plus I had the _unfortunate_ pleasure of finding out that neither this century Gemini or Capricorn know how to cook anything that goes beyond heating some water so…you make the connection! As for Scorpio, well…Milo must have taken somewhere his propensity for burning water and I'm thinking Kardia might have been the missing link we were looking for…"

Even if her attempt at joking had been a very poor one, Aphrodite couldn't help but be somewhat relieved by the fact that she hadn't been too badly scarred by her impromptu journey with three Saints who, if he remembered correctly, had held for the Snake Master nothing but contempt and hatred.

That line of thought got shot to hell in the very moment his eyes connected to a small _white_ patch on her right shoulder.

Like a good bloodhound all his attention zeroed in on what he recognised as a poorly wrapped bandage and the snarl that followed had all of the other Saints instantly on alert.

"What. The. Fuck. Happened?"

Aphrodite could feel Death Mask moving, coming closer to them, to better inspect the damage, but he wasn't ready to let him have his fun at whoever had been the bastard who had hurt Helena.

He had thought that Helena would tell him on the first try, but he hadn't taken into consideration – or he had simply forgotten – her stubborn streak. She had removed herself from his arms and was now looking everywhere but at him.

With barely concealed fury – but also a gentleness that came from the knowledge that he didn't want to hurt her _more_ – he quickly snatched her back into his space and tore the bandage aside to inspect the wound.

What he saw made his blood boil.

"I'm going to fucking _kill_ you! I have told you before that if you ever _dared_ to lay a hand on her _again_, you would suffer _excruciating_ pain by my hand! Now I get to collect what I have promised you!"

The Pisces Saint could sense his comrades at his back, slightly startled by his uncharacteristic outburst but quickly recovering their wits at the mention of their precious sister being harmed in any way. He could feel the scorching anger that Death Mask was displaying and he knew he needed to finish things off quickly if he wanted to have the pleasure of inflicting the damage. There would be no telling what would happen if his deranged boyfriend managed to get his hands on the attacker.

Knowing this, Aphrodite quickly whirled towards the side of the room where the bed with the other Gold Saints where positioned and his aquamarine eyes scanned them, trying to find the one he was looking for. Upon finding him he zeroed in, barely aware of the fact that the strings the Griphon still had in place on the Gold Saint had loosened enough when the Spectre had understood who the intended victim was.

With a Cosmo so limited that he couldn't even pass for a foot soldier, Aphrodite knew his roses were out of the question and that left him only one choice.

With a vice-like grip and far more strength than anyone knew he possessed – finally those long gruelling hours of secretly sparring with Mask were paying off – he lifted his target off the bed by the neck.

"Which part of _touch her again and you die, _didn't you understand Scorpio?"

The quiet cursing at his back alerted him to the fact that Milo, Camus and Death Mask had understood what had happened to Helena, and none of them was very pleased with the fact. Actually if the rising of his Cosmo – though weakened as it was – was any indication, their scorpion was getting ready to dish out the same excruciating punishment to his counterpart.

Counterpart who, strangely enough, didn't seem to understand exactly what he had done to Helena. His eyes were unfocused and scared, not the eyes that Aphrodite had expected from a man known to take his pleasure in harming his victims.

He had expected mockery, defiance, a sort of a justified excuse as to why Kardia had felt the need to hit Helena, but instead Dite found something akin to panic in those blue orbs.

But why was the sadistic bastard panicking? Didn't he think that they would have discovered the damaged he had inflicted on their precious sister?

"What…happened?"

What? Of all the things Aphrodite could have expected, genuine curiosity never even made the list. A panic stricken genuine curiosity was something that even in his wildest dream the Pisces Saint had never thought to hear. It couldn't be true. The scorpion Saint had to be lying!

"What. _Happened_? What do you mean _what happened_? You hit her! Do you mean to tell that you have done it so many times you have forgotten which one we are talking about?"

The mere thought was scary and sickening but he had had to ask. The slightly chocking sounds the pathetic being in front of him was emitting made him vaguely aware of the fact that soon the arthropod would be out of oxygen.

"Pl..ease…I did…didn't to..uch her!"

That was weird…as far as Aphrodite knew, Kardia of Scorpio never, _ever_, denied a hit, especially not on such a high prized target like Helena. His style was more boasting what he had, and even what somebody else had accomplished. This platitude couldn't be true, could it?

A voice in his head screamed at him to crush the other man's windpipe and be done with it. After all even if he wasn't responsible for the last hit, he had taken his needle to Helena's body too many times to really let him go.

Once again sure of his decision Aphrodite felt his own brothers side with him, even the more peace-prone like Mu gave their approval in the revenge. As for Kardia's own comrades, well moving while entrapped within the Cosmic Marionetion was a feat very few had managed to accomplish.

But just as he had been ready to commit murder in cold blood, a small hand and soft pleading eyes stopped him.

"Don't Dite…you promised me, don't you remember?"

Promise? What promise? In his bloody haze he vaguely recalled saying something to Helena, but at the moment the specifics didn't seem important at all.

Pisces shook his head and then proceeded to ignore his sister for the time being but he hadn't taken into account her stubbornness.

"I will not let you murder him Dite! Look at you! Look at all of you? What happened to you, while I was gone? Heh? What happened for you to go back to the way you were before befriending me? Aren't you ashamed? You all stand here, jury judge and executioner, watching one of you commit murder in cold blood and you do nothing? Nobody is going to stop Aphrodite? You have simply decided that Kardia is the culprit and nothing will sway you! I am _disappointed_ in you!"

Throughout Helena's tirade Aphrodite had felt some of his consciousness return to him and blinking slowly he refocused his eyes on the man he still held in a killing chokehold. Quickly, almost expecting Kardia to burn him, he let go of the man, who crumpled on the bed, frantically trying to gulp fresh air. Looking around he could see the bewildered faces of the XVIII century Gold Saints and the shamed and down casted features of his own brothers.

And in the middle of them all she stood, blazing like the golden sun he remembered so vividly, eyes aflame and fists clenched in righteous fury.

What a fool he had been…

"I'm sorry Helena…I panicked and…well…I couldn't think straight! I cannot bear you hurt and when I saw the wound I thought he had tried to carry out the threats he had made while you were gone…you cannot blame me for thinking the worst, but that doesn't excuse what I was almost about to do…"

A part of him, the vindictive side he couldn't seem to shake off, hadn't wanted to apologise, hadn't wanted to stop, but Aphrodite had stood on the brink of annihilation for far to long to not know that nothing good would ever come from giving in to that vengeful desire.

Plus Helena hadn't asked for much when they had all been brought back from the dead, but one of the things she had asked had been a complete stop to all revenge-killings. She had said that she never wanted to lose any of them again, that she couldn't bear if in the afterlife she was separated from them again. And she had told them, in no uncertain terms, that they had two options: teach her how to ruthlessly kill somebody, or stop killing just for the pleasure of it.

Since everybody had recoiled at the thought of their precious sun tainted by the murderous sin, their only choice had been to stop killing.

"I know you were worried Aphrodite…"

Ouch! She had used his full name, that meant he was in trouble. The only thing worse was if she had used his _real_ name…she had used it only once and it had preluded to his second death.

"…but that's not an excuse for murdering someone without even listening to _his_ side of the story!"

"What have I done?"

The question had shocked the entire room into silence. Could Aphrodite really believe that Kardia genuinely didn't know what had happened?

A rustle of fabric to his left alerted him that Helena was slowly taking off her shirt.

The sight they were all greeted with halted his thoughts. How had she survived all this?

Her skin was a map of bruised and lacerations, some shallow, some deep enough to have warranted a suture. But that wasn't even the worst of it. She had been thin before this whole debacle, but now she was bordering on skeletal. He could count her ribs and without much difficulty too.

"Oh fuck…tell me I didn't…"

The quiet moan coming from the hunched form of Kardia had everybody reconsider their assumptions. He didn't look like a man who had inflicted pain on purpose. He looked like somebody had punched him, like the wound on Helena's shoulder was an unexpected and unwelcome piece of news.

"I am afraid, dear Kardia, that you did… but not consciously, and it's more like it's my fault than yours!"

With the last bit Helena suddenly had all eyes on her, so she hurried along the explanation, fearing an ugly explosion if she dawdled too long.

Apparently even the ten seconds she had taken had been ten too long because behind her Death Mask exploded.

"What the hell do you mean it was _your_ fault?"

"Well…I didn't dodge fast enough, I forgot he wasn't _my_ Scorpio…"


	24. Lo sguardo del Basilisco

"I forgot he wasn't _my _Scorpio…"

_Her _Scorpio…if somebody had told Milo when he was twelve that, one day, he would have been happy at the mention of being somebody's Scorpio, he would have punched them in the face first and then Scarlet Needle them into oblivion.

But now, at twenty-five, the only emotion he could feel was pure ecstasy! Helena had clearly stated that he was _hers_, and the wild scorpion found that he couldn't care less about the fact that he usually chafed under strict chains.

Hell, if it meant she would stay with them, with _him_, for all eternity, he would gladly buy her an iron chain to bind him to her side.

But, as good as hearing that had been, it didn't actually explain why she thought it was her fault for mistaking Kardia for Milo.

"And what the fuck do you mean by that?"

Helena had better hurry up with her explanation before the short-tempered, foul-mouthed Cancer Saint decided to send them all to Hell in a fit of fury.

"You haven't changed a bit have you Mask? You know, all good things will come to those who wait…"

"I'm fucking tired of waiting! I think that I have been far more patient with you than anybody else! So start talking before I send you to Hell!"

The argument between Cancer and Ophiucus was so familiar that Milo thought he could cry at the sheer normalness of everything, but even though Death Mask had threatened – and acted on that threat – more than once Helena with an impromptu trip to Hell, the Scorpio couldn't help but realize that, this time, there was no creepy blue light surrounding the silver haired man, as though Death Mask didn't want even the slightest risk of sending Helena to the Yamatsou.

Apparently Helena had reached the same conclusion because she had shifted closer to her Guardian, all the while keeping her hand on her other protector.

"There isn't very much to this story Death Mask, apart from exactly what I have told you! I have been healing them, as well as you in the past week, and well…let's just say that it has been a blessing that the ones down for the count didn't have a lot of Cosmo, otherwise I would have had to dodge more that I already did…"

Nope…that explanation didn't clear up the confusion not one bit!

Having apparently sense the lingering confusion of her precious family Helena hurried along with an explanation that, she could sense, was going to destroy whatever meagre happy thoughts her brothers had managed to scrounge up from her reappearance.

"I think you remember just how long it took you to accept my presence in your lives right?"

At that, oh so casual remark, Milo felt his cheeks redden with shame at the memory of just how much of a bastard he had been to the very young girl with a flowery dress more than ten years prior. And judging from the looks of shame that were gracing every single one of the modern Gold Saints, the scorpion concluded that their first impressions had gone just as smoothly as his own.

"But all's well that ends well right guys? I haven't told you this to remark on the poor welcoming reception you have given me, but to point out one single thing: the first time I have healed you, any of you, you lashed out, remember?"

Milo remembered it very well. It hadn't mattered one bit the fact that they had managed to solve their differences a couple of months prior to the incident in the Arena that had landed Milo in the infirmary; once he had felt the powerful Cosmo of the Ophiucus get closer to his bed, he had mistakenly assumed the worst and had lashed out. The only lucky break was that, having already experienced his deadly hits, Helena didn't really have a problem with being hit by the Scarlet Needle.

Well, it wasn't strange that Kardia had lashed out. He had no prior experience with Ophiucus and the luminous Cosmo she emitted so Milo wasn't surprised that the Scorpio had reacted with his Needle.

But if that explained the cryptic phrase about not dodging – Milo knew that Helena didn't bother to dodge their attacks any more, since it had been years since the last time any of them had unintentionally or even intentionally lashed out on her – and, of course, it provided the missing link about the bandage on her arm, but it still didn't explain the slightly hunched position and laboured breath Helena was experiencing. The Scorpio Saint knew from experience that those two symptoms were characteristic of Antares, his deadliest hit, but Helena had mastered its venom a long time ago, thanks to the connection she shared with the Eight Saint.

"Why are you hurt?"

The question had escaped his lips before Milo had had the chance of processing his jumbled thoughts, but now that it was in the open, he knew he had done the right thing in asking.

The answer though, looked like something he really wasn't going to like.

"It happened again, right Helena?"

The gentle, if a bit rough from disuse, voice of their Goddess cut through the tension like a hot knife in butter and it looked like the strange question had all but cut whatever invisible strings that were keeping Helena upright.

"Yeah…it did…"

"Are you going to tell them, this time?"

"I really don't want to…"

"Tell us what?"

The cold voice, cracking like ice under pressure, alerted Milo that his boyfriend was dangerously close to losing his patience and he, for one, didn't want to experience that ever again.

"What are you afraid of, Helena? Somehow I do not think they'll ever hate you…"

"I am not worried about that Athena…it's not their hate I'm worried about, it's their guilt!"

Now Milo was really confused: what had happened to Helena? What could possibly have made her so wary of their reaction?

Just as he was about to open his mouth to tell her _something_, either a reassurance or a scolding for the lack of faith he didn't know, a sharp crack resounded in the still room, like a whip through frozen air.

When Milo's eyes finally found the source of the noise, his already scattered thoughts seemed like leaves in a strong wind.

Because the scene that greeted him could only come from one of his worst nightmares: there was no way in Hell that Mu, sweet calm almost apathetic Aries no Mu, had just slapped Helena with all his might.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing, you overgrown sheep?"

Apparently Death Mask hadn't taken very well the mighty slap at his protégé, and right under his nose!

But Mu didn't seem to pay any attention to the incensed Cancer Saint, knowing full well that he didn't have enough Cosmo to carry out even the smallest of his threats. No, his attention was completely fixed elsewhere, namely into a pair of lilac eyes, that he had once despaired to see again. Eyes that had a dangerous glint in them, something that should have warned the Aries away from what he was about to do, but Mu wasn't born under one of the most mulish signs for nothing. He had a theory, and if he was to be proven correct, well…he had no idea what to do.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell you what, Aries?"

The venom in Helena's voice could have melted the gold oricalchos of their cloths and just the fact that she had used Mu's title instead of his name, warned the others that something monumental was about to happen.

"Do not play dumb with me_ child!_ You know full well what I am talking about!"

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. It had been years from the last time Mu had called Helena just _child_. In the language of the Aries' forefathers there was no greater insult to an adult, being called nothing more than a child.

The hiss coming from Helena's lips told everyone she had understood perfectly well the implied insult, but she still wasn't backing down.

"It is none of your business, _master!_"

The seemingly harmless word hurt more than any insult ever would. Mu had thought he and Helena had finally created a strong bond, but the fact that the girl was refusing even his attempts at talking about the matter, hurt him more that he could ever express. Still he had to try and reach her, whatever the cost.

"It must have hurt, Helena…"

"Stop talking! You know nothing!"

"Then tell me! Tell us! We are your _family!_ We might amount to nothing in your life, but you are an important part into ours! Talk to us!"

"And tell you what? Eh? Tell you that my connection to you, to all of you, is gone? That I cannot feel you deep down in my soul? That you died, because of a stupid war you had no part on? You died because of ME? And that because you died, our bonds got broken? That because Dite jumped in front of that bloody attack our connection is so shattered that it might be beyond repair? That I haven't been able to sleep at night because of the emptiness around me? The same emptiness that surrounded me when you sacrificed yourself to open the path to Elysium? I should have died that day, with you! Sacrificed myself alongside you! But no, I had to carry on, to be the shoulder on which Athena could lean! And so I paid a price far higher than my life! Because death is nothing compared to the agony of a ripped soul bond. And now, it has happened again, but even though you are alive, I cannot connect with you! Your souls are as far away as if you were still corpses and there isn't a damn thing I can do about that!"

By then end of her tirade Helena was panting, like she had just run a marathon with a ton of bricks on her back, but in the bewildered silence around her she could see that her fellow Gold Saints weren't fairing better than her.

She knew they hadn't even suspected such a thing, with the apparent exception of Mu, who had the less shocked face of them all. Death Mask was starting to look like his chosen name and Aphrodite was trying his best impression of a dead fish. Milo looked like someone had punched him in the gut and even the normally stoic Shaka had his eyes open, most probably due to the great shock.

She should have been happy, at least they still cared, right? But in that very moment she felt very far from happiness. She was tired beyond belief and so very alone.

"Let it go, Mu…it'll pass, there's nothing for you to ruin your pretty head over…"

Mu couldn't really tell what had pissed him off more: if the deep seated hurt in Helena's eyes or the nonchalant way she had just dismissed the whole thing.

But whatever that was, he was pissed! No, he was beyond that, he was _furious_! And it was that righteous fury that commanded his very next move.

As soon as Helena had disentangled herself from Aphrodite's slack grip he acted. Drawing forth from his small reserve of Cosmo he teleported next to Helena, fist closed, ready to smash it in her face, if that was the only path.

But he had forgotten about her quick reflexes. She dodged the punch and swiftly retaliated with a kick, aimed at his unprotected middle section. Once again activating his teleportation he managed to barely get out of her way, knowing full well that a full force kick with leg guards on would have destroyed him.

"The best you can do, _child_?"

The animal snarl she produced should have warned him he was threading on very thin ice, but the thrill of a good sparring had taken over. And it had been years since the last time they had really sparred together.

"I'm taking it easy in respect of your crippled state, _master!_"

The wicked smirk on her lips chilled the spectators to the bone. Helena's style of fighting was famous for being devastating, after all she had mastered the deadliest secrets of them all and had then fused them together to create her own, unique style. Style that now she was very ready to unleash onto one of her beloved brothers.

"Are you really sure it's _me_ the cripple one?"

And with that he teleported again, this time very close to the girl and then proceeded to punch her with all his might, on her _injured _shoulder.

Mu had never experienced Milo's Scarlet Needle – and for that he thanked Athena profusely – but he couldn't help but imagine that a poisoned wound would hurt like hell, especially after being not too gracefully punched. But apart from the hiss of pain Helena had released when his fist had reached her shoulder, the swift punch with which she had retaliated hadn't been hindered but what, he was sure, must have been a painful blow.

"If you think that measly punch is going to stop me, Mu, you have another thing coming! I have experienced far worse than that…"

As always those words had the power to chill him to the bones. No one should have experienced something like Helena had gone through and there were nights in which he, the strong-willed Aries Saint, still wallowed in guilt about the things he had turned a blind eye to.

"Heleiana! Stop it!"

"Ooooh…my _full_ name! It's been years since somebody used it! You don't scare me Mu! You never have and you won't start now! You are pathetic and weak! You have the power for crashing stars at your fingertips but you are afraid to use it! Why should I fear you?"

Mu knew full well Helena was goading him to fight, but he refused to rise up to the bait. She clearly didn't mean that, and he wasn't about to give her, or anybody else the satisfaction of seeing him losing it.

"You don't say anything? Not even a little bit of indignation? Do you think I am _right?_ That you are nothing more than a bleating sheep? Death Mask was right! You are a coward! You are right: Aldebaran doesn't deserve you!"

The silence that had descended after the last comment was so icy that it could have given Camus a run for his money.

Mu was so still that the Gold Saints started to think he had been transmuted into a statue.

Even Helena had stilled, crouched into a defensive pose, eyes wide like she couldn't really believe what had come out of her mouth. But the surprise on her face was gone in an instant and in between two heartbeats her face went still and unreadable like polished marble.

Aldebaran, after an initial spluttering had gone mercifully silent as well, heart thumping in his chest and vainly trying to stomp down the flutter of hope that had flared inside him.

But the calm before the storm wasn't destined to last forever. With a blood curling scream Mu charged forward, murder in his eyes, his love for his little sister all but forgotten.

After that it was a flurry of screams, and punches and dodges and kicks, but everybody could see that, even injured, Helena was a better fighter than Mu could ever hope to be. The little assassin that Arles had worked to hard to shape and mould was deadly even without the expansive Cosmo that had always characterized her. And like the dead Pope had predicted, she knew the Gold Saints so well that no surprise attack could ever take her off guard.

In the flurry of kicks and dodges a keen pair of green eyes were very intent in observing the fighters. Where all the Gold Saints saw a cruel spar between a former master and his student, the all knowing eyes of Athena caught a glimpse of something more. Helena had goaded Mu into a fight, yes, but it looked like the Ophiucus' hits lacked the usual flair – not that the other Gold Saints could really tell, after all they hadn't been subjected to the slightly deranged kick-boxing routine Helena had put Saori through when they were younger – and the girl was more focused in trying to make Mu use his Cosmo than to really hit him.

"Is this the best you can do? _Shaka_ can hit better than that!"

If Mu had been more focused on his surroundings and less lost in the haze of the battle he might have noticed that Helena's taunts had a distinct _fondness_ in them, but the Aries was so incensed that the only answer he thought to give was another swift punch to Helena's unprotected torso.

But Helena dodged that one as easily as she had dodged the other hundreds that had already come her way.

In the flurry of hits that followed the Ophiucus Saint - whose Cloth still hadn't appeared, a sure sign, if the others had been paying attention to that, that the Snake Master didn't really think his charge was in danger and didn't really want to damage the Aries Saint too much – managed to lock her lilac eyes with the emerald ones of her Goddess and the strength she found in them boosted Helena to do something that in any other day she might have thought unthinkable.

Closing her eyes she concentrated her Cosmo, falling easily into the meditative state that Shaka had taught her ages ago, all the while placidly dodging the furious hits of the Golden Ram.

When she opened them her lilac orbs briefly flashed with something like regret before changing shape, resembling more the eyes of a snake, with their slit pupil. She then proceeded to fix them onto the imposing form of Taurus no Aldebaran and when her target was in her sight she unleashed her powerful Cosmo.

"Basilisk Stare!"


	25. Una scelta impossibile

"Basilisk Stare!"

The attack had taken them all by surprise, that much Helena could see. Not only they hadn't really thought she was going to attack them, but no one, except for Saga, had really seen that particular hit.

And while the others had only been able to stare like idiots at the golden light that was directed towards Aldebaran, the Pope had, without much success, tried to open up his Another Dimension, in a last ditch attempt to at least divert the attack somehow.

But his weakened Cosmo hadn't been enough and it had been with lead in his heart and ashes in his mouth that he had seen the golden snake materialize in front of them and the proceed to turn Aldebaran into stone.

Once again the silence was deafening.

"Oh cazzo…"

As always Death Mask's lack of finesse was astounding but, in that very moment, Saga thought that it summarized very well what everybody else was thinking.

"Aldebaran…"

The pained whisper had Saga turn towards the origin of the attack, only to have his heart breaking at the sight of a destroyed Aries Saint on his knees with tear track running down his cheeks. Everybody had known of his macroscopic crush on the good Aldebaran, everybody except the Taurus Saint himself. But the petite man from Jamir had done nothing during their years together and the others had contented themselves to watch the two develop a friendship like no other! But now, to have everything so crudely ripped away, by someone everyone considered a sister, was horrifying beyond belief.

Saga quickly looked at Helena, hoping to see at least a small flicker of remorse, something _anything _to tell him that she really hadn't meant to hit Aldebaran, that it had all been a huge fucking mistake.

But her eyes – the eyes of a snake, his brain supplied – were stone cold, no regrets in them, no emotions at all. Her eyes reminded him so much of Arles, of his own eyes during those terrible years, that a cold fury enveloped him.

With a barely human snarl he closed his fists and readied them to do something that, until an hour before, he had thought impossible. He was ready to punch Helena, to make her suffer like she had done with Aldebaran.

Apparently he was not alone in that line of thinking. Quickly, and with nary a word his brother Kanon sided with him, the two of them more than enough to use the Gemini powers at least once. Soon all the others joined them, fists ready and hearts breaking.

As easily predictable both Death Mask and Aphrodite hadn't moved, eyes still on the young girl they had sworn to protect.

"What are you doing Helena? Why are you attacking us like this?"

Ever the cool-headed one, Aphrodite had tried talking to Helena, hoping, against all reason, that she was simply victim of a cruel attack by somebody else.

"I am not under anybody's influence dear Aphrodite…I am simply doing what I should have done ages ago! I am taking care of loose ends…"

The cold delivery of an even colder speech had left everyone in the room frozen. The only one still unruffled by the nightmarish turn of events seemed to be the Goddess, but Saga and the others wasted no time on pondering why exactly their Goddess wasn't even a bit worried about her strongest warrior turning against her companions.

The cold, unfeeling, lights of the dead surrounded them and Saga knew that Death Mask had entered the frame. For a moment he thought to order both him and Aphrodite to stay out of the battle, knowing very well that it would be heart-breaking for those two having to deal with their loved charge.

But a quick look into Mask's eyes – emotionless pits of cold fury – had him change his mind very quickly. The Cancer Saint wanted to fight for Helena's soul and wanted to be the one to put an end to that misery. After all, it was his responsibility as her Guardian.

"Oooh…the Gold Saints united! What's with the long faces, _brothers_…you look ready to slay an enemy…"

"You have lost your right to call us brothers, filthy snake!"

Saga didn't know how much it had cost Death Mask to say those words but his respect for the man rose a thousand times. But they had been so busy readying themselves for battle that they completely missed the flash of hurt into those crystal eyes.

A flash that didn't go unnoticed by the Goddess who could only pray that, this time, Helena did truly have a strategy behind all of this, and that she wasn't going to have to seal the soul of the Ophiucus once again.

"Enough talking! She is going to pay for what she did to Aldebaran!"

And with those words the peaceful and cool headed Aries Saint charged forward, followed by all his brothers in arms.

If they had thought that, by being more numerous they could have taken the Ophiucus down more easily, they could have never been more wrong.

With an easiness born of years of practice Helena dodged the first wave of hits directed her way and just as easily she activated her Cosmo and sent almost all of her assailers flying.

With the knowledge of repetition Death Mask hadn't punched Helena on the first assault and was then able to avoid being hit by her rebound Cosmo. Easily jumping over his fallen family he closed his fist and let it fly, finally understanding what Helena had had to endure during his brief stint as a Spectre seemingly out for Athena's blood.

When his fist met flesh – the sickening crunch of her nose breaking was going to hunt him for eternity – he dared open his eyes, praying to see a hint of something into those cold, cold, eyes.

But his prayers weren't destined to be answered, and Helena's upwards knee soon found the soft tissue of his stomach.

Spluttering blood – the wound on his stomach had reopened – he quickly ducked out of the way of the incoming Aquarius no Camus, whose legendary frozen façade and heart, where visibly cracking under stress.

A pained grunt from his left alerted him of another, almost forgotten, problem they were facing.

"Mind the snakes! She speaks to them! They are extremely venomous! Try not to get bitten!"

A distorted laughter rang from his right side, far too close to his ear for comfort.

"Forgot the snakes again, dear Mask?"

Before Death Mask could find the presence of mind to retaliate, Helena had been forcefully dislodged from his shoulder by a haunted looking Aphrodite.

"You ok, Mask?"

"Just peachy, Dite! Don't worry about me! I'll be fine, but we need to stop the bitch, before she deals out any more damage!"

Again, another flash of hurt into lilac eyes, unnoticed once more, except for the Goddess and another blue pair of eyes.

"Oi, Saga! Alone we are sitting ducks! We need to regroup and think of a strategy _together!_"

Ten heads turned slightly towards the silver haired Saint, briefly acknowledging the logic behind the suggestion and as quickly as they started attacking they retreated to the far corner of the room to form a strategy.

So high strung with adrenaline they were, that they failed to notice that, while they were discussing the best course of action, they were left exposed to any incoming attack, especially from a person still capable of using her Cosmo. But no attack ever came and, while the XXI century Saints seemed not to take notice of this glaringly wasted opportunity, the other people in the room could help but wonder why the mad girl, who had made no qualms about killing them all, was passing such a good opportunity.

The brief lull in the battle soon ended and the battle cries of the hardened soldiers resounded in the vast room, alongside the slow but sure rising of their cosmos.

Smirking at that, Helena readied her stance, arms outstretched with palms facing outwards, ready to create a barrier if necessary.

She watched them as they took position, their gestures so familiar to her that it broke her heart seeing them. Helena knew what was about to come, and she was very aware of the fact that she had just one shot to make things right again.

So, when the golden forms of her family's constellations sailed through the air towards her she summoned her Cosmo, ready to deliver the most perfect act she had ever had to perform.

"Stone wall!"

A heavy looking wall burst forward from the bowels of the earth, seemingly stopping all the attacks from reaching the girl.

In the split second of calm, before her brothers had the time to shift into an effective defence position, Helena launched her attack.

"Mirror of the Hydra!"

When the brilliant light of the supernova created by their combined attacks, died down Saori, Sasha and the XVIII century Gold Saints were greeted by an unforgettable sight.

Mu, Saga and the others were lying on the floor, blood slowly seeping from the newly opened wounds, pooling around them.

Slightly apart from them Helena still stood, even though her hunched position suggested she would find laying down a better position, panting heavily and clutching her side, where a red splotch could be seen, spreading fast.

"Oh stars! Helena! Are you all right?"

Knowing she couldn't collapse right in that very moment – as wonderful as that sounded – Helena forced a smile and a curt nod to her Goddess, trying to convey, without moving too much, that she was just peachy.

"Did you kill them?"

The soft question, uttered by the young Ophiucus, echoed in the too silent room like a whip crack in the silence.

"No, she didn't...her intention had never been to hurt them…she was simply trying to save them, right?"

The simple question shocked Helena just as the man who had uttered it.

"How did you know, Manigoldo?"

"It wasn't that difficult…I have seen you fight as Phi, and from what El Cid, Deuteros and Kardia had told us, you are a far better strategist that you let on. Plus you're so powerful you are deadly without even trying. Except, this time, you tried. You tried to be _not_ deadly. You could have killed them with a flick of your wrist and yet your attacks missed them by a mile. You could have seriously hurt them, but you just taunted them enough so they could raise their cosmos, to attack you. And moreover I am pretty sure that your wall can rebound and redouble the attacks that crash onto it, and yet you have used _their_ own weak attacks as rebound. If they had been less idiots and had thought this through before letting the fists fly, they would have easily seen it. You wanted them to attack you. For what purpose I still don't know, but they played right into your hand."

"How do you know I didn't want to toy with them, before killing them? And what about Aldebaran? I attacked him point blank…"

"But you haven't killed him…as far as I know as long as the Basilisk who casted the spell is still alive, and the statue has not been broken, the stone can be transmuted back to flesh, right?"

The way Albafica had delivered his piece of news could have fooled any man into thinking the man himself was beyond bored and uninterested. But Helena had had enough dealings with the Pisces Saint to recognize a glint of curiosity, as well as a sliver of respect in that cool demeanour.

Leave it to Pisces and Cancer to come to her rescue! Even though she had treated them poorly those two cloths still looked out for her.

Smiling softly she inclined her head to acknowledge Albafica's words as true and she slowly limped towards the immense statue of her brother.

"Why did you hit _him_? Of all the people you could have hit, why Taurus? You could have easily turned to stone somebody else, you would have obtained the same result! Or did you target Aldebaran to make Mu mad?"

For a moment she had forgotten how insightful Shion, like every other Aries, could be. She had never personally met him as Pope, having been recruited by Saga, after the murder of the old Shion, but the stories she had heard from Mu, had painted a very detailed picture of the man in her mind. Picture that was now slowly coming to life in front of her very eyes.

Now she understood why Athena had chosen him, of all people, to represent her for more that two centuries.

"I could have turned anybody else, that was true, but Aldebaran was the best choice, my only choice. As for the fact that it made Mu furious, well that was an added bonus and if this will teach that stubborn ram to stop procrastinating and start acting, well then…it will be an unforeseen blessing! But I did transmute Aldebaran of all people to protect him…"

While talking Helena had gotten closer to the Taurus statue and with a burst of Cosmo she touched the stone and released the flesh.

"Protect him? Why?"

"Because I was the only one whose connection with you hadn't been severed, right?"

Quickly turning to look at the gentle giant in the eyes Helena could not contain her tears in front of the other man.

"I am sorry Aldebaran…I really didn't want to hit you! It was the only way I could think off to save you…"

A gentle hand, the size of a shovel, caressed her face and forced her to meet his soft brown and understanding eyes.

"I know, dear sister! I could feel you! You have nothing to be sorry for! You have saved me and you even managed to save _them!_ I am sure they'll understand what you did, once they wake up! Trust me, you'll see…"

Smiling faintly she let the words of the other man reassure her, hoping against her gut feeling that the too trusting Saint wasn't wrong.

But something inside her told her that the road for forgiveness might not be as smooth as they all seemed to think.

"And now you have to tell me how in the world you have managed to make Mu, the most stubborn man I have ever seen, admit his feelings! If I had known that being turned into a giant stone statue would have had this effect on him, I would have asked you a lot sooner!"

The boisterous laugh, drowning everything else, shook Helena from her morbid thoughts. Allowing the older man to sweep her up in a crushing hug she let go of her fears, simply basking into the easy happiness radiating from the gentlest of her brothers.


	26. E' vero?

"Ouch! Oh my head! It's killing me!"

For the second time in as many days Gemini no Kanon woke up in the exact same way, but as pleasant as the first time had been, something told him, even before opening his eyes, that his second awakening wasn't going to be as good.

"You are finally awake Gemini."

The cold, colder than Cocytus, voice of his boyfriend greeted him and it took Kanon a moment to realize that Rhadamantys had called him by his title and not by his name.

What had happened? Why was his boyfriend so cold?

Fully opening his eyes he scanned, for the second time, he big room in which they were all in, but apparently this time he hadn't been the first one to awaken but the last.

"Saga? What happened?"

He saw his brother get up from his bed and slowly making the short walk towards the one Kanon was currently occupying and in those short moments his brain finally caught up with everything else and he remembered.

"No…"

He felt tears prickling at his eyes but he refused to let them fall. What difference were they going to make? Aldebaran was gone and Helena had turned traitor on them!

"How did we miss it, brother?"

"I don't know Kanon…I really don't know!"

The younger Gemini risked a quick glance towards the other occupants of the room and the sight that greeted him almost broke his heart in two.

Aiolia was desperately sobbing into Ros' shoulder, while the older of the two could hardly contain his tears. Milo was being held by Camus, whose legendary cold front had crumbled like a castle of cards. Even the most unflappable of the Saints, Shura, Dohko and Shaka were severely shocked and desperately trying to come to terms with what had happened. A little further a wailing Aphrodite was being held by what looked like a soul dead Death Mask, the two of them battling the demons of guilt, knowing they should have sensed that something was wrong in their charge.

But the one whose conditions scared Kanon the worst was Mu himself. The man had always been very quiet, but now his all demeanour bordered on catatonic. A quick glance to Saga confirmed Kanon that Mu hadn't moved from that particular spot since he had awakened again.

Moving his gaze from his companions to the other people in the room Kanon was surprised by the looks of pure venom that the other Gold Saints were giving them. Especially Kardia and Manigoldo. And if the rose that Albafica was twirling in his hands was any indication, Kanon had the sinking suspicion that the man wanted very much to use one, or all, of them as target practice.

But what shocked Kanon the most was the scalding looks that the three Infernal Judges were giving them. He had not seen that mixture of disgust and pity in his lover's eyes since their first meeting in Hell.

What in the name of Athena had happened?

And why everybody was giving them the stink eye? Yes, killing a comrade had always been poor manners, killing a young girl even worse, but the young girl had revealed herself like a cold assassin, killing one of them in front of their very eyes. Kanon thought they had been justified in their actions.

But apparently no one in the room thought as much, and to his utmost dismay, even the Goddess was looking at them with something akin to disappointment in her eyes.

Kanon was vaguely aware of the door opening and closing, when he felt Saga stiffen beside him.

"So you aren't dead, bitch…I knew it was too good to be true!"

The cold voice his brother had used reminded Kanon of Arles and his psychotic tendencies and for a moment he was scared that that man had returned. But the familiar blue hair of his twin moved in the breeze of his Cosmo in front of him and so Kanon refocused his attention on what his brother had been looking at.

And when his eyes focused on the object of his brother's ire he couldn't contain the gasp of surprise that had escaped his lips.

Because _that_ woman couldn't be Helena.

First Helena had never worn the classic chaste Greek tunic that characterized all the healers on Sanctuary, and most importantly their little sister had _never_ worn the mask that all female warriors were supposed to wear. She had told him, once, that as a Gold Saint Athena had exempted her from wearing it, as long as she felt confortable in their presence. She could always wear the mask in front of people she judged unworthy of seeing her.

And now she was wearing the mask, _in front of them_.

For a moment Kanon thought the girl in front of them wasn't Helena, but when the soft voice of their Goddess called her by her name, that desperate last hope was crushed.

He watched as the Ophiucus Saint, he couldn't call her his sister any more, advanced towards her Goddess and briefly wondered if he was supposed to try and stop her, if Helena would attack Athena just like she had attacked them.

Apparently his very thoughts had been put into practice by one of his brothers.

Death Mask stood, eyes wild in front of his Goddess, Cosmo blazing in the shadows surrounding him. His right hand extended in front of him, a claw entirely made of Cosmo protruding from said hand and it was currently tightly closing on the soft flesh of the Ophiucus Saint's neck.

"You will not take another step, snake! I will not let you kill the Goddess as you killed Aldebaran! I have been too slow once, I will not make the same mistake twice!"

"Death Mask, let her go! Now! That's an order!"

"I'm sorry Milady! That's one order I will not obey! Ophiucus is my responsibility and it is my duty to see it through the bitter end!"

"That's enough Cancer! You don't know anything! Let her go! You are hurting her!"

So the filthy snake had managed to deceive even their Goddess, Death Mask thought. If he had ever needed more confirmation about what he needed to do, this was it. He could not let a conniving bitch like that go free, regardless of his own personal feelings. After he had done his duty, he would have to pay his sin with his blood. He had accepted it.

Suddenly flicking his wrist he let her fly across the room. He was momentarily puzzled when none of her defences shot up in retaliation. She looked like a puppet with her strings cut. He waited until she had struggled to her feet once again, but as she made no move to strike he was once again left floundering.

The bloody, unfeeling mask on her face, wasn't helping matters either. Death Mask had always prided himself in being able to read even the slightest shift in Helena's seemingly perfect poker face, but the fact that she had decided to employ her mask, left him a bitter taste in his mouth, even if his baby sister had turned against them.

Knowing this was too good a chance to pass it up, he called forth the souls of the dead and concentrated his powers on his fingertip.

"Sekishiki Meikai Ha!"

He knew that Helena could dodge that attack even in her sleep, he had used it on her enough times that she could predict it, even before he had thought of it; but this time Helena barely moved.

"Stone Wall!"

But the battle cry hadn't come from the broken form of his sister. No, the one raising the barrier _in front_ of her, had been her student, young Ophiucus no Sara.

"Enough of this! You are hurting her!"

"Move away from there, _ragazzina_! I don't want to hit you, but I will have no qualms about it if you don't move!"

And with that Death Mask readied himself once more, little blue light surrounding him...when a powerful Cosmo skyrocketed at his immediate left.

"Great Horn!"

"KHAN!"

Death Mask had been so distracted by the sudden, and startling reappearance of the Taurus Saint that he would have been reduced to dust if Shaka hadn't had the wits to erect a barrier around him.

"Aldebaran?"

"YOU IDIOT! YOU WERE ABOUT TO KILL HER! WEREN'T YOU THE ONE WHO HAD PROMISED TO ALWAYS PROTECT HER? WHAT HAPPENED?"

Death Mask had never seen Aldebaran pissed, but now he could safely say that he had finally understood the reason why the gentle giant had been chosen for the Taurus Cloth.

The man was worse than a raging bull when on a rampage.

"You aren't dead!"

Death Mask winced at himself when he heard himself uttering that idiotic phrase. Of course he wasn't dead! He had just unleashed his most powerful attack! No dead man could do that, Death Mask knew from experience!

"But we saw her kill you!"

Apparently the Cancer Saint wasn't the only one with a penchant for stating the obvious in the most obnoxious way.

"NO! What you saw, Aiolia, was Helena using one of her attacks on me, turning me into stone! I wasn't DEAD! You didn't really think she had hit me with the intent of killing me!"

The cast down faces and the avoidance of his eyes told Aldebaran one thing: they had.

"HOW COULD YOU? YOU KNOW HER! HOW COULD YOU THINK SHE WOULD DO THAT?"

"We saw her! We didn't want to believe it, but she confirmed it! And then she attacked us!"

"WHAT? Are you going idiot in your old age Shaka? She _attacked _you? If she had done so, why aren't you dead? Where are your wounds, at least? She had Cosmo, you hadn't…there was no way in hell she could have missed you miserable lot if she had really wanted to kill you…"

Now that Aldebaran had pointed it out, the Gold Saints started to recall their last battle with Helena, and how she had purposefully missed, even though she was very famous around Sanctuary for her killer aim.

"Now that he mentioned it…but what was the meaning of this? Why did she attack us at point black rage? One minute we were talking about her lost connection with us, then she stoned you and started picking on us! I mean, where's the logic in that?"

"You really haven't figured it out Milo? You always boast you are the most intelligent men on Sanctuary, how didn't you figure it out?"

Even through the gentle tone the Scorpio knew that Aldebaran was chastising him and, thoroughly shamed, he could only hung his head in defeat when he couldn't find a good reason behind Helena's action.

"None of you have figured this out? Death Mask? Aphrodite? Shaka? Mu? Not even you Saga?"

"Aldebaran…"

"No, Helena! Don't interfere! I know you don't want to tell them anything because you are very kind and you do not want to hurt them even if they deserve it because they hurt you, but this time, we'll do things my way…"

"Al-deb-ara-n…"  
"…and they'll finally see that they wronged you, and they won't do it…"

"TAURUS! HELENA!"

The panicked yell of Scorpio no Kardia finally managed to penetrate into the thick jungle of the modern Taurus' speech, alerting the big man that something very wrong had just happened.

"Master! Please wake up, master! Wake up!"

"Helena? Helena! Wake up, darling! Come on sweet pie! Tell me something!"

Though Aldebaran's hands could have easily crushed grown men, he was unsuspectingly gentle in handling the broken form of the far too small girl who had just collapsed on the floor.

Not so gentle as not to hurt her when he accidentally touched her right arm.

"What the…"

The unconscious whimpering grew louder when the Brazilian touched her right arm again, and with a frown decided to see what was underneath the cloth.

"You…son of a bitch!"

The quiet gasp beside him told him that the young Ophiucus Saint had seen the damage and a small sob behind him alerted him to the fact that Saori-san had reached the same conclusion.

But how had she been able to resist so long before collapsing?

He had, erroneously apparently, thought that Helena hadn't sustained any damage in her confrontation with the others, but he couldn't have been more wrong!

Her right arm was something from a nightmare. Not only she had damaged it with her failed dodging of Kardias' Antares, but apparently Milo had thought to complete what his predecessor had started by aiming _his_ Antares right on top of the other. Right now all her arm was a black and blue imprint of the veins underneath the skin. Veins that were being submerged with venom with every heart beat.

And, not happy with that damage, Shura and Camus had decided to add their own signature to the disastrous masterpiece, if the cold burns and the huge slash going from her shoulder blade to her side were any indication.

As for the other attacks, well they littered her body like rocks outcroppings outside Sanctuary.

She needed medical attention and she needed it soon!

Mindful or her injuries, trying not to aggravate them further, he scooped her up bridal style and quickly whirled towards the door.

The collective gasp he heard made him pause before exiting the room.

Studiously calm he turned around to face his brothers, arms slightly away from his body, as to show them the damaged girl better.

Upon hearing their startled exclamations he felt a little bit sorry for them, but then he remembered that it had been _their_ fault if Helena was in those dire conditions and his eyes hardened.

"Helena…_mein leibling!_"

Aldebaran saw Aphrodite standing up and stumble blindly towards him his precious cargo, but he wasn't going to let them anywhere near her.

"Stop it right there, Aphrodite! She is in this condition because of you! Because the very people who had promised her to trust her and to protect her, had believed such a weak lie! You wanted to know why she did all of this? Why she pretended to hate you? To attack you? She did it to _save_ you! Your Cosmo was so weak that, even though she had managed to save you, there was still a strong chance you were going to die. Usually that doesn't happen because we are all connected to her, and she boosts our cosmos with her own. But by dying you had broken the connection so she couldn't do anything to help you! She decided to attack you in the hope you would be angry enough to activate your Cosmo to hit her, which you have done! When she hit you back, with your own weak attacks might I remind you, she infused the rebound with her Cosmo, thus managing to recreate the connection between you and her. Did you not even notice you have your Cosmo back? As for me, she didn't hit me out of spite! She simply tried to protect me. I was the only one who hadn't died and so our connection was the only one not broken. If I had entered the battle with you, I would have been hit by the rebound, thus shattering the connection. This way, she simply protected me…"

Having said his piece Taurus no Aldebaran quickly turned back to the door and exited the room, closely followed by the young Ophiucus Saint and their own Goddess and Sasha-san.

He didn't care that he had almost destroyed his fellow Saints. He didn't care that the others were going to exact their revenge on them. The only thing he cared in that very moment was the dying girl in his arms.

Hoping against all reason that Saori-san, Sasha-san and young Sara had the necessary skills to save her, Aldebaran put Helena on the too big bed in her room and retreated into the far corner to let the three women perform their miracles.

He closed his eyes and started praying. After all Helena was a strong girl. She was going to pull through.


	27. Sparito

"Let me pass! I need to see her!"

Saga's final, desperate shout, finally managed to shake Helena awake and the bedridden girl quietly shook her head in order to dispel the last remnants of sleep from her eyes.

"Do not move another muscle Gemini or I'll personally send you to the Hell you deserve!"

"The Hell _I_ deserve? That's rich coming from you Manigoldo! Were you not the one who had abused Helena at the beginning of it all? What gives you the right to judge me now?"

"Yes, I have hurt your precious Helena in the past, but at that time she was an enemy, one that had tried to kill my Goddess! What was I supposed to do? Let her traipse happily through Sanctuary? You, on the other hand, have laid a hand on a sister, knowing full well who she was! You failed to trust her, to see beyond her words into her soul! The people who had professed to go to the far sides of the galaxy for their precious sister were also the ones to almost kill her! So don't go around on preaching me about the goodness of the world, Saga! You now nothing of it!"

In the silence that followed Helena, from within her room and with the double doors sealed shut to keep everybody out, could almost imagine Saga's expression after such a passionate tirade. She knew full well that her big brother had never even considered Manigoldo a sterling example of good behaviour and she could easily picture his dismayed face when he would finally realize that the Cancer Saint had raised a very good point.

Heavy footsteps – she imagined from exhaustion since she couldn't hear the clanking sound of the Cloth – sounded in the silence, going away from her door. Saga had given up. But before being too faint to hear they stopped briefly and the tired and_ old_ voice of her Pope sounded again.

"The I'll ask you one favour Manigoldo, hoping against reason that you find it in your heart to grant me this last request: simply tell Helena we are sorry, I am sorry! That we have been idiots, if not worse, and that we just want her to heal. Tell her that we will be waiting for her, to have a change of grovelling for her forgiveness…"

"You are aware she might not want to see you lot again right?"

"Yes, I am very aware…but it doesn't matter! I, we, will gladly disappear from her life if she so much as hints to that! We just want to see her once again…"

\- Saga, you idiot! I never wanted you out of my life! If that had been my goal from the start I wouldn't have gone through all of _that_ to save you! –

\- You are aware that they attacked you, right? –

\- Oh come on Ophiucus! I provoked them! What did you think they were going to do? You know full well that diplomacy isn't their strong suit! –

\- Let me get this straight: you almost get yourself killed in order to save them and when they are too idiots to even see that you are not betraying them and decide to attack you, you _forgive_ them? You almost lost your life because of them! How can you be so…so…naïve?! –

\- You of all people should know that what I did was the only viable course of action to reconnect the zodiac signs! And as for their lack of trust…well it hurt! And I _am_ mad at them! I had really thought that they would see through the ruse and not be deceived and I have to admit that being wrong was actually more painful than the physical blows, but I still love them! This doesn't mean that I will ever _forget_ this, but after a suitable amount of time in which I will be pissed at them, I'll _forgive_! –

\- I am still trying to figure out what possessed me to choose _you_ as my host, Helena! But if you are happy like this, I can cope with your plan of being pissed for a time and then forgive them! As long as you let _me_ have my fun… -

-Somehow I have a feeling that _your_ definition of fun and _mine_ aren't the same thing, but sure…you can hiss at them all you like, dear Snake Master! –

After that her constellation went back to her dormant state and she was, once again, free to eavesdrop on the conversation on the other side of the door.

Conversation that, apparently, had changed the actors starring in it, if the steadily raising voices were any indication.

"I _need _to see her Sara!"

"What is it with you, Gold Saints? In the future don't they teach you the basic grammar meaning of a language? We have already told you, _all_ of you, that you cannot visit Helena! Actually it wouldn't surprise me if, once she awakens, she reiterates the ban!"

"She isn't awake yet?"

"Why so surprised Scorpio? The damage you dealt her was extensive and I have been told that heartbreak is a valid excuse for not wanting to return from a coma, and you sure have dealt her a lot of heartbreak all in one sitting!"

Just by listening in to that conversation Helena knew that her student's words were cutting her beloved scorpion far more than her claws could ever do. She knew she had to intervene in that conversation before Sara, in her righteous anger, took it a step too far and ended up shattering completely Milo's soul. Because underneath all his posturing and easy grins, the soul of the golden scorpion resembled a delicate butterfly, very beautiful but in the end very fragile. The only other Saint with an even more fragile soul was Aquarius no Camus, whose heart was buried underneath layers of ice to protect it.

But before she had gathered enough energy to even consider getting out of bed she heard something that froze the blood in her veins.

"I had thought she had awakened and that she had somehow managed to talk to Camus. He has disappeared and I don't even know where he is…I was hoping she could…that she was willing…"

"You really thought to ask Helena to find Camus for you? Are you seriously stupid? First you treat her like an enemy and then, when it suits you, you decide you want her help? I cannot really believe you had the guts to come here with such a ludicrous request! Go away Milo, before I make you!"

Helena was barely aware of the fact that Milo's now unusually subdued gait was steadily moving away from her door, too shocked by the unexpected and unwelcome piece of news to do more than stare at the closed doors hoping to have heard wrong.

Because if she hadn't it meant only one thing: Camus was gone.

But why was he gone? Had something happened after she had collapsed? And more importantly, why hadn't he said anything to Milo, at the very least? It was so unlike Camus to have vanished without even leaving a hint that Helena started panicking.

A quick mental scan confirmed that the Aquarius Cloth was still in Sanctuary, stashed in the Throne Room with the others, patiently waiting for the Aries Saint to fix them.

Another gentle sweep of Sanctuary told Helena that, wherever Camus had gone, it wasn't within the sacred perimeter. Knowing that Milo had reached the same conclusions and it had been exactly that the reason he was panicking, Helena knew she had to act fast.

Milo's words had hinted that Camus had been distressed at the moment of leaving Sanctuary and that, coupled with the fact he had no Cloth to protect him, pushed Helena off her bed, without any consideration to her still healing state.

\- Helena, you idiotic girl, get back to bed! You are in no conditions to go traipsing into the wild! If Aquarius' boy is gone, it's her problem not yours! -

\- Ophiucus! How can you be so… so heartless?! Ice is your friend and I am sure she is really worried that Camus has disappeared without her! You know full well that if there's a Saint who dons the Cloth _everywhere_ that's Camus! The fact that this time he left her here, it's worrisome! –

\- Yeah, yeah…I agree with you that the fact that he left the Cloth here is worrisome, but if Ice failed to do her duty to keep an eye on the boy, I will not fail to do mine! You have been badly hurt! I will not let you do anything that could jeopardize your recovery! –

Helena had been very aware that her constellation was still talking, forbidding her to even move a finger to scratch her nose – whoever had thought that the Snake Master was a heartless bastard had obviously never met the man – but she decided to ignore his worried ranting, trying to focus instead on expanding her Cosmo in order to get a feeling as to where Camus had gone, all the while trying not to alert the others that she had awakened.

There! She had found him! Granted, the feeling of his familiar Cosmo had been very brief, like a light whose switch had been flipped too soon, but the unmistakable icy blast was so Camus that Helena could not contain a couple of tears.

He was alive, but a gut feeling told the bedridden girl that if no one hurried up he wasn't going to be like that for long. Feeling that became a certainty when she was finally able to pinpoint the exact location of that Cosmo, on a map: of all the places on earth, the idiot had decided to ensconce himself into the icier of them all, Asgard!

Shacking her head to dispel the images of perennial glaciers that the mere mention of the name had managed to conjure, Helena willed herself to move from the bed, knowing she was the only chance for the Aquarius' idiot to save himself.

A hiss in front of her told her that her manoeuvre might not have been as stealthy as she had hoped.

"And where do you think you are going?"

In all of her 13 years of cohabitation, Helena could count on the fingers of _one_ hand the number of times the Snake Master had decided to grace her with his physical presence.

While the other Cloths had manifested themselves many times over the years – she had such a good relationship with them that, sometime, she forgot that nobody, except for her, could really see them – her own Gold Saint had always evaded her presence, like she was somehow contagious. She had seen him on the day he had chosen her as his host, on the day the Cloth had finally manifested, and upon her return from Hell, a conversation in which the Snake Master had had to tell her that all of her family was dead and that she was supposed to find new bearers for the twelve Gold Cloths.

And now, just as she was about to go scavenge for something thick to wear in the freezing temperatures of Asgard, the Snake Master had chosen to manifest again.

Helena couldn't help but notice that he was a handsome man, long black hair – like the one she was currently sporting – and pitch black eyes that seemed like holes ready to suck into them the poor unfortunate souls who had dared look.

The handsome physique – who wouldn't have considered tall, lean and broad shouldered anything but handsome – was something that, Helena was sure, had had many women turn her heads into his direction when he had still been alive, regardless of the scars marring the slightly tanned skin.

All in all he looked like a powerful, yet deeply gentle man, even though Helena couldn't help but wonder where that gentleness had gone, because in that very moment she couldn't see it in his gaunt visage.

"Do I need to repeat myself girl? Where do you think you are going?"

There was no way she could get away with lying to him, so Helena resorted to tell him the truth. After all, in the conditions she was in, the Master's help was something she could really appreciate!

"Where do you think I am going? To bring him back, of course!"

Observing powerful men reduced to spluttering fools by her hand had always been an entertaining way to pass the time for young Helena, and that went double when she managed to surprise her own Saint.

"I must have heard wrong…there was no way in Hell you just said you wanted to bring him back! After all I haven't chosen a complete idiot as my host!"

Helena knew he was right! She was well aware of the precarious state of her health and that even a minimal damage could prove fatal. On the other hand, though, she knew that she was the only one who could go to Asgard and bring Camus back.

"Do I need to remind you that Sheep-boy has got the same powers of teleportation? And that Ace's toy will go to the end of the world to bring his precious popsicle back?"

"I know that Mu can teleport and Milo would do just about anything for Camus, but none of them can really withstand the freezing temperatures of Asgard! Not for the amount of time needed to get Camus back!"

"And you think _you_ can? The one person in all of this madhouse that had to be hospitalized under Athena's healing because her body had been so wounded there was no way it could regenerate itself? _You_ want to go to Asgard? Are you MAD?"

"And what do you want me to do? Leave him there? You know it as well as I do: if nobody goes to Asgard and brings him back in the next couple of hours, the only think we will bring back to Sanctuary is his CORPSE! He might control the freezing temperatures but even he, without a Cloth, isn't suited to the frozen devastation that is the land of Odin!"

Helena could see the Snake Master's carefully neutral façade slowly crumble; for all his posturing and yelling and overall bitchiness, the man had an insane soft spot for the other Saints, especially for the Aquarius and the Scorpio.

"But weren't you mad at them? Didn't you promise me that _I _could be mad at them all I wanted? What if I think that _his_ life is a just compensation for everything they made you go through? You know full well that the Cloths would not object, not even Ice would say anything if I wanted her Saint's life as compensation…"

Helena sighed. She knew that her Saint was serious and that he was offering her a choice; he was right to point out that she was still mad at them, that their words and cruel deeds had wounded her far more that anything their enemy had managed to conjure. By the ancient laws she was entitled a compensation: an eye for an eye; Camus' life and the other Saints' desperation as payment for the hell she had had to suffer at their hands for more than 10 years. Nobody would have said anything, not Ophiucus, not the other Cloths, not Aquarius, not even Athena. They would have given her compensation and she would have gone on with her life as a Saint, with another young man donning the Cloth of the Master of the Ice.

And, as horrible as all of that sounded, for a brief second she had really considered it. Exacting revenge onto one of them, making them all pay for what had been her hellish life. Yeah…for a brief second all of that had sounded appealing.

But then she thought about how much she would miss the weekly midnight hot chocolate ensconced in the library, sharing their favourite stories, at how desperate Milo would be without his precious Camus, at how dull bantering would seem without the wittiness of the Ice Prince. Then she imagined another man at the Eleventh House, another set of penetrating eyes peeking from underneath the head piece of the Cloth, another cold hand helping her in the infirmary, another voice to grant her passage…and she couldn't.

"No Master…you will _not_ take his life as compensation. You can be mad at them all you like, but killing one of them will not bring me back what I have lost, and revenge only brings about more revenge, blood calls out to more blood, and I have lost them all far too many times to contemplate doing it once more. Yes, they have hurt me, beat me, mocked me, mistrusted me, betrayed me and they have done all of this and more to you, but killing them the first time didn't bring any relief, and I don't think that killing Camus will bring me anything but more despair! So, yes, I _will_ go to Asgard _with_ or _without_ you!"

Helena knew she wasn't playing fair, she knew that Ophiucus had been wounded deeply by the current Saints mistrust, far too echoing of the mistrust his own friends had displayed at him so many centuries before, but she had lived a life of bloodshed since she was five, and she simply wanted it to end. She could be mad at them, but she wasn't going to let them die in order to find inner peace; after all, how can you be mad at dead people?

Knowing she needed to let her constellation draw his own conclusions in his own time she resumed searching for anything suitable for the Asgardian climate. Fortunately Death Mask had had the foresight, or the dumb luck, of bringing along her emergency pack, in which she had stashed one particular winter coat: it had been modified by Camus to withstand even the most freezing temperatures and she hoped that it would serve her well.

Once ready she briefly considered going out the door, quickly dismissing the thought when she heard footsteps outside of it, signalling that somebody was patrolling the corridors.

Pivoting towards the window she mentally prepared herself to vault outside, hoping not break something, since her constellation had decided not to accompany her in the adventure.

Sighing she tried to impress into her memory the room, dreading the fact that it could be the very last time she was going to see it, and prepared to jump.

"If you die, I'm not bringing you back!"

She smiled widely at her constellation, whose frown only deepened.

"I wasn't going to ask!"

Reassured she wasn't really alone, she vaulted the balcony and disappeared into the fading light of sunset.


	28. Un freddo polare

"Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold..."

"What did you expect? White beaches and scorching sun? It's Asgard girl!"

Helena barely refrained from hissing to the Snake Master, knowing that it was a pointless and very childish thing to do, but it had been a very close call.

"Very mature, Heleiana…very mature!"

"Oh stop it, snake! You have no idea how really cold this is place is! Thank Athena you're incorporeal, otherwise you'd be begging for that beach more than I am!"

Even knowing that she was behaving like a child on a temper tantrum didn't really stop Helena from whirling on the spot and stalking in a very randomly chosen direction, deep into the perennial snows of Asgard. Of course, the deeply amused chuckle that followed her didn't really do anything to dispel the bad mood she was in.

After what she supposed were ten minutes of – she really hoped not – pointless walking Helena was acutely aware that she had to stop and assess her situation or she was going to end up pointlessly walking in circles till she dropped dead, frozen in the middle of that desolation.

Admitting defeat she resolved to swallow her righteous – nothing and no one was going to persuade her that she was being childish – anger and ask her omnipresent companion about direction when a flare of light rose up from the horizon. A flare of very bluish, very cold and very familiar light.

"Camus! Master he's over there! Quick!"

A pale, almost incorporeal hand shot out to stop her.

"Hold your horses Helena! Something's not right! I sensed desperation in that burst of Cosmo, meaning that Camus is in a very tight spot at the moment!"

"Then all the more reason to go and help him! Why are you even stopping me?"

"Because I also sensed a request in that message! A request of, how do I say this…well Camus requested to be left alone! Our arrival here hasn't been as unnoticed as we thought it would be and whoever is the thing that Camus is fighting has sensed us as well. With that last burst of Cosmo the boy has warned us to stay away, to let him die…"

Horrified Helena expanded her own Cosmo to the limit, trying to find something, anything that could disprove the theory that her own Saint had put forth. But, apparently, bad luck still hadn't abandoned her and the thorough check did nothing but confirm the theory the Ophiucus had just explained: Camus was being attacked and he had warned them off so that they didn't come and save him.

"Well, I haven't listened to any of them my entire life, I'm not about to start now! So let's go Snake Master!"

Not bothering to check if her protector was following her – she had discovered very early in her life that the Ophiucus Cloth did an amazing job of projecting vibes of annoyance or even disgust and hatred for the general human population, her included, but when he cared about someone, and she was always at the top of the list, there wasn't anything really that he wouldn't do for that person – she took off at a run towards the exact point from which Camus' Cosmo had come from.

Running in the snow, even with the proper anti-freezing attire, wasn't an experience Helena was very keen on repeating, ever again.

"Now I know why Milo always complains when Camus drags him off to a romantic hike in the Artic and I swear I will sympathize with him the next time he is subjected to this bloody torture!"

"Stop complaining girl, you need to save your breath for hiking! I think it was you the one who said that time was a wasting!"

When did her constellation develop a sassy side? If he kept that up she was sorely going to miss the time in which he did nothing but brooding all day long, trying to intimidate her with the silent treatment!

"No, you _like _me like this! Admit it girl! Plus you have wanted to know my _sassy_ side, as you put it, for years! Why would you waste such a valuable opportunity now?"

"I hate you! One day, Snake Master, one day you will wake up with a dagger coming out of your chest and my smiling face over it!"

"Such violence girl! You have clearly spent too much time around that scum that Cancer chose as his host! How in the name of Athena did Cancer think that _that_ man of all people could make a fine and suitable candidate for his Cloth remains a mystery to me! Shall I revoke your permission to see him?"

"You do know that you aren't my mother?"

"Very much, and it's a fact for which I thank Athena every day for!"

But Helena knew that, underneath all of that sarcasm, the Snake Master loved her and protected her with the fierceness only a mother protecting her cubs would display.

A pained yell resonated through the air and Helena's blood chilled in her veins.

"Camus…"

Now running down the slippery slopes of the land of Odin Helena mentally tried to prepare herself for the fight with the unknown creature waiting for her. While she usually relied on her extensive Cosmo and physical prowess, the fight with her brothers had drained them both. She was going to need more than brute strength to win the match.

When roaring pierced the air Helena quickly shared a look with the Snake Master: could it be possible that their enemy had some animal characteristics? She really hoped not, because the human/animal hybrids were always such a pain to deal with, mixing together the cunningness of a human being and the brute strength of the animal side.

Rounding up to the final slope of the never-ending trek Helena closed her fists and brought her arms up to shield her face. If she was going down at least she was going to do it properly.

Inhaling one last time she psyched herself up and entered the frozen natural arena. Upon seeing the scene in front of her the breath she had collected got quickly expelled and she swore she heard the muted thump of her jaw hitting the frozen earth.

"What. The. Fuck?"

Helena closed her eyes and shook her head trying to dispel what she was sure was just something her imagination had conjured up, but when she opened them again the same surreal scene was still in front of her eyes.

"Please tell me you see it to, Master! Tell me I haven't gone mad!"

"Are you really sure that you are going to be reassured by the fact that I am seeing a giant, pissed, polar bear attacking Ice-boy?"

The strangled noise Helena made told the Snake Master that his pupil hadn't really been reassured by his admission.

Another roar, this time followed by a giant paw cracking the ice in front of the beast reminded the two that they were on a rescue mission, regardless of the _peculiar_ circumstances on which it was happening.

"Look at the bright side Helena! At least it's not an hybrid! This one's completely animal!"

"Somehow the thought doesn't reassure me…"

The sarcasm was barely there but, at least, it helped Helena focus on her surroundings. At first she had thought that Camus and the beast had been battling each other on a wide open patch of frozen tundra, but after a second look she understood that the situation was a lot more dire than she had anticipated.

The frozen earth she had thought they were all standing on was, in reality, frozen _water_. A solid, thick, extensive block of ice that, unfortunately for them, the bear was cracking every time he brought his paws down.

But what was worrying Helena more than anything else it was the fact that Camus was visibly listing on one side and, even though he had the power to kill the beast, she couldn't see even a minimal scratch on the bear. So either the bear had some sort of hidden armour, or Camus' attack lacked the necessary power, because he was still recovering.

She really hoped it was the latter.

"Soooo…any plan?"

The incredulous look the Snake Master sent her way had her giggle like a schoolgirl.

"You are asking _me_? Weren't _you_ the one to whom our dearly departed, and never missed, Arles had thought all about strategy in combat? I'm pretty sure that in there, there was a chapter about rabid animals…"

"Really? Because if there was, I think he skipped it…"

"Well…not rabid _animals_ per se…but you've got a couple of _animal-like_ Saints who had gone mental over the years…"

The punch in the face, while not very effective since he was incorporeal, at least had the power to make her feel better.

"I am revoking your privileges about the Cancer Saint when we go back…you are becoming exactly like him!"

Deciding to ignore her protector – he had been going on for ages about revoking her privileges regarding Death Mask, and even Aphrodite, but she had always known them to be empty threats – she refocused her attention to the fight in front of her, trying to pinpoint the bear's weaknesses and the way to exploit them.

She really didn't want to kill it, but she wasn't about to become dinner to it, not after everything else that had happened.

Trying to figure out when the right moment for attacking was going to be, the choice was taken out of her hands when Camus finally lost his personal battle with gravity and collapsed on the frozen floor, incidentally missing the deadly claws out to get him by centimetres.

With a battle cry that would have made Death Mask very proud – he had always insisted that creating the proper atmosphere always lead to better performances – Helena run towards the battlefield. With an agile jump she positioned herself in front of her fallen brother to better shield him and looked at the bear.

It didn't seem rabid, she could swear she had seen a flash of intelligence in those black eyes, but why was it attacking? What had Camus done to provoke it?

Quickly scanning the area she finally found something she thought might be the answer. There was a blood trail, moving from Camus still form toward a patch of trees in the distance. She knew it indicated the path that a wounded Camus had taken from those trees to the frozen lake. But what was in those trees? What could be so important to make the creature in front of them lose it?

Oh…oh no…stupid! How did she not see it?

"You look like you have just reached Enlightment…mind share it with the class?"

"It's a _she!"_

"That really doesn't clear anything…"

"Can't you see it? The bear is a _she_!"

The constipated look of not understanding on the Master's face told Helena she had to spell it out for him.

"The bear is female! She is not attacking at random, she is simply protecting her cubs! They must be somewhere in that forest and Camus must have done something to make the bear think he was going to harm them. You were the one that told me, once upon a time, that animals can sense the Cosmo, especially if it's threatening them. By raising his Cosmo, and attacking her, Camus has basically told her that he was going to harm her cubs. I don't blame her for attacking him first!"

"Ok, girl…let's say your theory is correct…what do we do now?"

Instead of answering she turned to face the bear again and purposefully lowered her Cosmo down to nothing, all the while ignoring the spluttering of her Saint ordering her to bring it back up.

"I don't want to hurt you, nor your cubs…and neither did he…we are just passing by… we are very sorry for the disturbance, but please let us go…I promise we are not a threat to you!"

Helena knew with an absolute certainty that she was never going to really know if mama bear had understood her words, but them or her non-threatening Cosmo did the trick and the bear slowly started to withdraw while keeping her eyes fixed on Helena's.

Once mama bear had reached a sufficient distance from the girl she roared once more, just to prove her point, and then she turned her back on the humans and started running towards the forest.

"That went…unexpectedly well!"

"Thank you for the vote of confidence Master! You didn't look like you trusted me back there…"

"Oh no…I do trust you! It's in your stupid ideas that I don't put much faith in!"

Helena had to forcefully remind herself that she wasn't supposed to kill her own Saint, regardless of how much of an ass he was currently being. But before she lost the battle with herself and decided to actually risk sending the Snake Master to Hell, a pained grunt distracted her.

"Saved by the bell, Master! Next time you won't be that lucky!"

The toothy smile – more fangs than actual teeth – he sent her way promised retribution in an event of war and before the next grunt the Snake Master was gone.

"Camus? Come on _mon frère_, open your eyes…"

"Helena?"

"Yeah…it's me…how are you feeling?"

In the single instant in which the turquoise haired man closed his eyes, Helena feared the worst, but a second later those two crystal lakes opened again and she found she could breath easier.

"Helena? What are you doing here?"

She felt him try to move under her touch, wriggle away from her grasp.

"Shh…Camus…don't move, you are badly hurt!"

But he didn't look like he wanted to listen to her as he kept trying to get out of her arms.

"Go away Helena! Stay away from me!"

Oh…she should have known…he still considered her a traitor. Apparently Aldebaran's heartfelt explanation had done nothing to clear her name in the mind of the iciest of the warriors. After hearing Saga and Milo's confessions outside her door she had deluded herself into thinking that her brothers had understood that everything she had done had been a ruse, a way to quickly fix their cosmos and have them live.

But Camus had always been different: more serious, more sensible, less prone to anger, but also a man who took longer to forgive, if he forgave.

Helena shouldn't have been disappointed, she knew very well the personality of the Aquarius Saint and she loved him dearly for it, but she couldn't control the wave of pure hurt that flashed into her eyes while her arms went slack and she moved away from Camus.

Camus had finally stopped struggling upon seeing the flash of hurt in those lilac orbs he had despaired to see again. Why was he here? Why was she treating him with kindness and love? Why hadn't she let him die, under the claws of that mephistotelic bear? And more importantly, why was she hurt? Could she have misunderstood his warning?

"Helena…I didn't mean you stay away…I meant you should stay away from _me_ because _I _am… how do I say it? _I _was the one…_I _am dangerous…I mean…IT'S MY FAULT!"

During the rather _convoluted_ explanation Helena's face had taken a progressively confused frown but the very last outburst at least had shed some light on what Camus was trying, without much success, to say.

If she had guessed right, she had misunderstood his earlier request, thinking he didn't want anything to do with her due to her being a traitor; but, if she had guessed correctly, Camus was telling her to stay away _from_ him, that he was the bad one, that he could be a danger to Helena herself.

But before she had the time to formulate a proper response that included berating the idiot for not understanding, even though she knew he had the capacity for it, she hear an ominous crack coming from right underneath her and the last thing she thought was how bad luck seemed to be following her, just before the ice pack cracked underneath them.


	29. Disgelo

The cold water hit her like a ton of bricks in the stomach. In all of her years as Camus apprentice Helena had been subjected to a lot of cold and icy weather. The Aquarius Saint had been the only one to take her out of Sanctuary for a prolonged period of time in order to better harness the icy Cosmo and Helena, who had had to pretend not to be able to master the blasted Cosmo, had spent an entire year freezing her ass off in the middle of the Siberia.

It had been so cold that, for months after her return, she had avoided the fridge like the plague, much to the amusement of Death Mask.

She had been in the water for less than ten seconds and the young girl could already feel the cold seeping into her conscience, lulling her to a sleep that would only mean death.

Helena could feel the blackness of oblivion tugging at the edges of her eyes and for a moment she contemplated the idea of letting go. After all hadn't she suffered enough? She was tired, so very tired, and eternal sleep sounded so good in that moment.

But, just before closing, her eyes locked onto the ethereal figure of the Ophiucus Cloth, face contorted into a mask of pain and fear, and something clicked. She remembered a man holding her with care and reverence, and on the horizon a city in flames. She remembered the cries of the people dying and the whispered words of the man, begging her to stay alive. She had promised herself on that day that she was going to live, she was going to complete her mission and give that very man back his smile. And, if she really wanted to do that, she couldn't die in that freezing water!

Opening her eyes fully she scanned her surroundings but the black, murky water of the lake made it almost impossible to see beyond her nose. In that moment she remembered that Camus had been right in front of her on the ice and that, assuming she or he hadn't moved much from the spot he should still be roughly in front of her.

With lungs starting to scream at the lack of oxygen she thrust her hands in front of her, hoping to be lucky enough to find him.

After what could have been ten seconds or ten years of search, with nothing in her hands, Helena started to despair. Her oxygen levels were dangerously low and she couldn't even imagine the state in which Camus was in.

A ripple in the water in front of her was the only warning Helena received before Camus' pale hand shot out from the dark and grabbed the front of her coat. In two powerful strokes the Aquarius Saint moved in front of her and started propelling them both upwards, face contorted by lack of oxygen and fear.

Thanks to Camus' prowess in the water he and Helena managed to get out the freezing lake very quickly and in a last effort he pushed her outside the water and onto the mostly solid ice. Quickly turning on herself she reciprocated the favour by hoisting him up from the icy trap.

Teeth chattering like the castanets Shura liked so much Helena hugged herself in what, she was very aware, was a futile try of preserving some warmth.

"We need to move! You are freezing to death!"

Camus' words cut through the fog that had taken permanent residence inside Helena's brain. The extreme cold was getting to her and being drenched in icy water wasn't helping matters.

Nodding numbly she tried to force her legs to cooperate but she seemed to be stuck on the ice. Athena had managed to heal her broken bones, but the cold shock they had just been subjected to, had increased the pain she was still experiencing. She was slowly shutting down. The Snake Master hadn't been wrong when he had told her that her health had been very precarious and that, even the smallest incident, could have catastrophic consequences. Now she didn't think she could classify falling into an icy pond like a small incident and she was very sure that the consequences of that were going to be unpleasant.

With a last smile – she had tried to go for reassurance but it might have come out more like a grimace – she closed her eyes and fell limp into Camus' arms.

When he saw her fall his heart stopped in his chest. She couldn't be dead! No! Not again! Not on _his _watch!

Standing up quickly, ignoring the pain all over his body when the wounds from the battle with Helena and the bear manifested themselves, Camus scooped up the girl on the frozen pavement and held her close to his chest, trying to warm her up as much as possible.

He quickly looked around, trying to find his bearings and when he spotted the landmark he was looking for he ran towards it, knowing there was a village in that direction. A village they both sorely needed.

The trek towards the little cluster of houses in the middle of the frozen devastation took every last ounce of power Camus had. Helena had not regained consciousness, not even once, and he was trying very hard not to panic and not to stop, if only just to check that the body he was carrying wasn't just a corpse.

His breath was ragged and coming in fast, too fast like his beating heart. The effects of the venom he had been injected weren't gone yet and the small but numerous cuts and bruises that still littered his body, coupled with the frozen water on him, were taking their toll.

Black appeared at the corner of his vision, threatening to obscure everything else and the algid prince knew he didn't have much time if he wanted to save her, to save them both.

Camus bit back a curse and prayed Athena one last time, to give him strength, and he put one foot in front of the other.

After what seemed an eternity the village grew closer in front of his eyes and amidst the fuzziness he started to see people milling about.

A smile graced his austere face - he had made it! – and his body started to shut down. He more or less fell gracefully on the ice, knees first, trying to absorb the impact and not lose his precious cargo. The last thing he heard before unconsciousness claimed him, was the long forgotten guttural sounds of the Nordic language, yelling for them.

When Helena resurfaced from the black ocean she had drowned in, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in Sanctuary. The grey, itchy cotton sheets on the bed were a dead giveaway she was as far away as possible from the golden world of Athena and the freezing temperature she was feeling – despite being burrowed in a mountain of covers – had nothing to do with the sunny and hot Greece.

"Welcome back…I did tell you that I wasn't going to bring you back from the dead! You almost made me break my promise!"

The irate, even if low, voice of the Snake Master, cut through the fog like lightening in a clear sky. Ignoring the stabs of pain every time she moved, Helena managed to seat on the bed, facing the now visible again figure of her Cloth.

"You're making a habit of appearing dear Master! Should I feel flattered?"

The feral hiss she received as answer told Helena that her protector was less than pleased with the conditions she was actually in, and that retribution for her idiocy wouldn't be long in coming.

"Shall I remind you that the impromptu bath in the frozen lake wasn't on my program?"

"Do I need to remind you, then, that I had specifically told you that your health was very precarious, and that a _minimal_ damage could send you to an early grave?"

Oh oh…the Snake Master was usually a calm and collected man, not prone to anger outbursts, but the barely controlled tone told the young girl that he was trying, and failing, to suppress his anger. The last time he had done that, consequences hadn't been very pleasant for anybody.

"Master, please stop! I am sorry! I never wanted to endanger my life needlessly, but you know that saving even one of them is not needless! They are my family, and if my actions, and even my death, can give them a tiny chance of life, you can be sure that I'll always choose that path! I know you do not understand why I am trying so hard for them, but I promise you something: once you'll hear my story you'll understand!"

Her story, something she had held close to her chest for almost all her life, waiting for the right moment to share it with them. And the right moment was approaching. The signs had all appeared and she hoped that, this time, the circumstances were going to be more favourable to them that the previous time.

"You have been blabbering about this story of yours for long enough! Either you tell it or you leave it alone!"

"I will tell it Master, simply not here, and not to you only! I'd prefer to tell it just once, and not repeat it thirteen times…"

Helena could see that she had managed to appease him for the time being, Ophiucus luminous Cosmo down to managing levels again, and she let herself breathe easier for a moment.

Crisis averted for the time being; time to open another can of worms.

"Where's Camus? Tell me we haven't lost him again, after all of this?"

The prolonged silence of her protector had Helena on edge. Why wasn't he answering her? Did something bad happen? Could Camus be…dead?

Before having the chance at opening the Yamatsou to check, Helena heard the slightly psychotic laugh of her Cloth and the proverbial lamp switched on in her head.

"Tell me you haven't…"

"I really don't know what you are talking about, but if it makes you feel better, than I haven't…"

He was right, Helena didn't really feel reassured by the admission, simply because Camus still hadn't come to see her. Unless…unless she had heard wrong his last words before the world dropped in freezing water and he really hadn't forgiven her.

"He has…"

"What?"

"He has forgiven you…it's him he simply cannot forgive! Plus he might have some troubles getting out of bed…I promise he is not dead, but you did give me permission to be mad at them…"

"Ophiucus what have you done?"

"Nothing I didn't deserve…"

The new voice froze the occupants of the room better than any asgardian tempest.

Helena turned around slowly, like in slow motion, eyes closed and Cosmo open wide, like she feared her eyes would deceive her, or worse, make her see the hatred in Camus' blue irises.

She felt the hesitant steps of the newcomer get close to her bed and she heard him sigh, while his hand moved the air in front of her face and stopped inches from her cheek, like the owner had been too afraid to complete its course.

The familiar cold enveloped her like an old blanket, seldom used but never forgotten. The crisp air around her was so Camus she felt tear prickling from her closed eyes.

"Open your beautiful eyes, my ba…Helena."

She had heard the hesitation in his voice, the small stumble before her name, and she smiled.

"Why the hesitation, Camus? Am I not your baby sister anymore? Did I do something so irreparable that you can't bear to think of me like that anymore?"

She was aware that she was playing with fire, she was aiming her jabs where it hurt the most, but she also knew they had to solve it, and they had to do it in that very moment, lest her relationship was lost forever.

"Oh _mon Dieu!_ No Helena! You did nothing wrong! No! _I am_ the one who doesn't deserve to be your brother anymore! I am not calling you baby sister because I feel like I don't have that right anymore!"

How was it possible that the intelligent man in front of her could be ever so thick and idiotic in that very instance?

All the while maintaining her eyes closed Helena decided to ask him something.

"Why would you think that? Didn't I attack you? Hit Aldebaran? Provoked Mu? Didn't I hurt Aphrodite with cruel words? Didn't I bite Mask with my snakes? I have betrayed you, so why would you consider yourself unworthy of me, when I made myself unworthy of you?"

She still hadn't opened her eyes, preferring the confortable darkness to the unknown emotions that could be depicted of the man in front of her. But if she had opened them she would have seen the pained expression Camus was sporting like every word she had said had been a physical blow.

The Aquarius Saint looked around the room trying to find the strength he needed for this conversation and when his eyes met the black pits of the Snake Master, who had pinned him on the spot with a looked that screamed 'it's all your fault so _fix it_!', he decided that, inspiration or not, he needed to start talking.

"Helena…I don't…what I wanted to say… I cannot…I really…"

Why in Athena's name, when confronted with his sister, he couldn't put more than two words together to form a sentence! He had started to sound like Milo!

A feminine giggle interrupted his thoughts and he saw Helena turn to face the Snake Master and dismiss him with a wave of her hand and a friendly hiss. Before vanishing the Cloth managed to shoot him a scalding look that promised a far worse retribution than the one already delivered if Camus didn't manage to fix the damage.

"Now he is gone…do you think you can manage to put more than two words together or do I need to start looking for a deck of cards and start reading them?"

A small chuckle escaped the tight lips of the Aquarius and, like magic, the atmosphere around them turned lighter. Camus mused that it was what usually happened around Helena. When she was around even the direst of the situations, the most impossible of the challenges, started to look like feasible things even for mortal men.

"No decks of cards Helena! I still remember what happened the last time you decided to read _Milo_ his future!"

"Ehi! It wasn't my fault if Milo didn't really get the fact that it was all a joke and went straight into paranoia mode! But enough of this now! You are trying to distract me, but I'll have you know it's not working!"

Sighing for the umpteenth time, Camus decided to draw strength from the frozen land they were onto and prayed Athena for a small amount of the rigid self-control that usually characterized him.

Breathing in he jumped off the deep end and started talking.

"You didn't betray us! If anything we betrayed you! You disappeared right under our noses for months and we couldn't find you. When we did finally find you, we discovered that only a small part of our little sister had been given back and that small part had been abused without us knowing anything about. And then, the battle occurred and, yes Dite jumped in front of the attack to save you, but then we all left you, too weak to accompany you into the wilderness while you risked your life again and again to save us. We left you with your worst enemies as protection, not even aware of the dangers you were risking. And then, when finally everything seemed to be over, when we finally thought you had been given back to us, we attacked you, hit you, made you bleed because we were too stupid to really understand that you weren't trying to kill us, but instead you were helping us, like you always do. In those moments, we, I, thought to be right, that hitting you, stopping you with far more violence than necessary was the right thing to do! And then it wasn't! Because it was _our_ fault that you had collapsed, that you, the Healer, had to be cured by Athena. And I couldn't stand it! I couldn't stay in Sanctuary, feeling your Cosmo weakening every passing hour, knowing that if you did die it was my fault! And so I ran. I ran away from Sanctuary, from Athena, from my duty, from my friends and family, from you! I ran away from my guilt, the same guilt I could see in Milo's eyes, in Mask's snappy responses, in Mu's silence. I ran away, and when the bear attacked me in self-defence, I thought that my time had come, that, at least, with my death I couldn't really hurt you anymore. But then you came. You, in all of your forgiveness, did the only thing I never thought you would have done. You came and saved me, again! I don't deserve it! I never deserved it, but you kept saving me! You kept giving me hope, and love, and friendship and family affection! And I am so unworthy of it! And it hurts to know that I have repaid you with nothing but doubt and betrayal. And what is worse, what hurts the most is that you think it's all _your_ fault! That _you_ are the one who betrayed us! That we have every right to be mad at you! To treat you like an enemy! It's like a hot knife in my gut, this knowledge. I had promised myself, after Hades, that I would have given everybody the courtesy of doubt, as not to do to them the same thing it had been done to me, during my 'betrayal' of Athena. I had promised myself to treat everybody like you had treated me, trying to see beyond the deception, beyond the words and into the soul. But I did nothing! I treated you like Milo, and Aiolia had treated us that fateful night. With suspicion and murderous intents. And even now I am mistreating you, hoping for your forgiveness even though I know that, if the tables had been turned, in your shoes I probably wouldn't give it. I am selfish, Helena, and it's for this reason that I want your forgiveness! And it's for this reason that I shouldn't have it!"

Silence was the only answer to the Aquarius long, heartfelt speech. Camus supposed he should have known it. After all he had been the first to say that he didn't deserve her forgiveness, but he couldn't deny that the small sliver of hope she would have forgiven him, had found its way into his heart and the sting of being wrong was more painful than he had ever imagined it.

"Do you remember that night, so long ago, when we met for the first time?"

How could he forget? He had been in Siberia when she had been brought to Sanctuary the first time and so the presence of a small girl in his House had been a very unwelcome surprise.

"Do you remember what you told me?"

Again, he would never forget those words. He had thought them the height of his stupidity, but he had to ask himself if now he wanted to revise that opinion.

_"__Do not fear young one! Camus of Aquarius will teach you his techniques but make no mistakes, I do not care for you, nor I will ever! I will be your master, nothing more, no mother, no father, no big brother. If you'll live or die will depend entirely on you! I will not be interested in your opinion nor in giving you mine. I won't listen to mindless chatter or silly anecdotes. I simply do not care! If you can't live with that than you are free to go, I won't force you to stay here."_

Despite the many idiocies he had done afterwards that was still the single most stupid thing he had ever said. He had been just thirteen years old when he had told a very young Helena that, but being young was still no excuse for being such an ass.

"What changed?"

Helena had asked him what had changed from that night, so many years ago.

"Everything…"

"Well…I didn't! Do you remember what I answered you?"

_"__I don't fear you, Camus of Aquarius! Nor your indifference! But remember this: you say you won't ever care and it's ok, but _I will_! I will care for eternity! I don't know you now but I can promise you, I will care! I will be interested in your opinions and I will share mine. I will listen to mindless chatter and silly anecdotes! I will be a sister, a friend, a shoulder to cry onto! Nothing will ever change that!"_

Helena had finally decided to open her eyes and when her lilac orbs locked with his blue ones she finally permitted herself to smile.

"I didn't change Camus! And never will…"

And with that her smile widened when she finally saw him smile back at her! Then, without any forewarning she jumped from the bed straight into his arms.

"Ouch!"

"Ok…that wasn't the reaction I was hoping for actually…"

"Sorry baby sister! Between you, the bear, and the bloody bodyguard I might be a bit more battered than I had anticipated! Would it be too much to ask for a quick fix?"

Helena hid her smile in his shoulder; when he talked like this, so carefree and finally young, he resembles so much Milo, that it was a wonder he still hadn't noticed it.

Regaining her composure she moved away from the hug and back on the bed from where she looked at him somewhat regretfully and shook her head.

"I'm sorry Cam, at the moment I'm in no condition to use my Cosmo to heal, not even a small scratch…"

A spastic movement from his wrist told her that Camus was still blaming himself for her predicament and so she ploughed onwards, offering an alternative solution.

"I can fix you up the old way though, if you want…not as effective and quick as Cosmo, but I have learnt the techniques of a normal healer. They might sting and hitch and be painful, but they'll do the job…"

Muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "I deserve the pain…", Camus indicated his assent on Helena's plan. He had brought her here with his stupidity and he still had to abuse her loving and caring heart with his wounds, but he needed them sewed shut if he wanted to take her back home, and if a little thread and needle was going to do the job, he would not complain about it being painful.

A couple of hours later, fully stitched up Camus looked ready to go and bargain for any sort of transportation towards warmer climates, from where it would be easier to find a way back to Athens. At that very moment the Saint of Aquarius didn't have enough strength to make the trek back to Sanctuary at light speed with his baby sister along for the ride.

But before he could go outside to make proper arrangements, his sister shook his head, signalling her aversion to his plan.

"So what do we do now, Helena?"

"We go to Hell…"


	30. Ritorno dall'inferno

Twenty-four hours. That was how long she had been gone _again_ – and from under their noses too, the evil voice in his head kept telling him – and once more he, Cancer no Death Mask, had no idea where she was and how to contact her.

He had tried to communicate with her through the Cosmo, but the blast of pure ice he had received back the first time he had tried, had discouraged him from trying again.

And now he was in Sanctuary, in front of the Fourth House, pacing back and forth so hard that he was sure he was leaving a permanent dent in the marble, thinking about how rotten he was as a Guardian.

He was seriously considering resigning from the role – he was pretty sure that the Snake Master was going to approve of that – given the shitty job he had done up to that very moment.

Death Mask was sure that Aphrodite was thinking the exact same thing. After all, how could Helena want them to remain her Guardians when in all of her life they had betrayed her, mocked her, hurt her, almost killed her, and in the last six months they had managed to lose her, and when they had found her again betray her trust by believing the stupid story about her turning against them. Death Mask stared helplessly at his hands, hands which had so much blood on them, even Helena's. He had hit her, fist crushing her nose, believing she had turned evil, believing his eyes instead of his heart.

And if everything had stopped there, he might have been forgiven. He had just awakened from being dead, so it was perfectly excusable a bit of confusion. But no, he had to go over the top. He had unleashed his Sekishiki against her, not in jest, not as training, but with a clear murderous intent. If it hadn't been for Sara's quick reflexes, Helena's soul would have been in line with the others, waiting her turn at eternal damnation.

How could he be forgiven after that? And even if, by some huge miracle, Helena really did forgive them, her omnipresent and very scary Cloth was going to kill him. Slowly.

Death Mask had been so lost into his own world of self-loathing and desperation that, at first, he didn't feel the subtle shift in the air around him, nor he heard the familiar voice calling his name.

Only when he bodily collided with a Stone Wall he understood what was going on.

-Helena? Helena?! Can you hear me? –

\- Well about time Death Mask! Getting deaf in your old age? –

If Helena was expecting the same old burst of anger that usually characterized the Cancer Saint whenever somebody mentioned his aging process, she was sorely disappointed.

Death Mask had gone unusually quiet and he didn't seem to have any intention of bursting like always.

-Are you alright Mask? You seem more subdued than ever…-

Subdued, that was an adjective that the silver haired Saint had never thought to use on himself. He didn't do subdued. He was boisterous, loud, foul mouthed, angry, a lot of things, but never subdued. But he had found out he couldn't yell at Helena, not even to play make-believe.

-Yeah…I'm fine…are you ok? Where are you? –

\- I am fine, bit frozen, but fine…I need your help to get us back…-

-Us? Who are you with, Helena? And why aren't you in your bed, resting? –

Not a single swear word. No curses, no bad words, no nothing. Helena was seriously starting to get worried.

-I am in Asgard. I came here to find Camus and now we kind of need to get back to Sanctuary, nor him nor I can really use any of our abilities, but apparently opening up the Yamatsou doesn't really take any effort…-

Death Mask should have been happy to hear about that. After all his student had just told him that his powers came so naturally to her that she didn't feel any problem in opening a pathway through Hell. But the only thing Mask could think of was how he had ruined her life. The only thing he saw was a child surrounded by spectral lights, who found easier to talk to the dead than to the living. Another rotten soul. Another sister, lost to death.

-…and now we need you…Mask? Are you still listening to me? –

He had spaced out on her. Death Mask _never_ spaced out. Oh sure, he didn't listen, but that was on purpose, and he always pretended not to listen but instead he heard every word. Not this time though, and Helena was getting very worried.

-Yeah, I'm listening…what did you want? -

-I need your help to open a pathway into Hell. I don't have enough Cosmo to do it alone plus I need someone to lock onto, otherwise I get the distinct feeling with might end up Athena's knows _when_! –

It made sense, thought Death Mask. Hell was one of the very few places that didn't have time – after all Hell was built with eternity in mind – so Helena and Camus could end up theoretically anywhere and in anytime.

-Fine…I don't have a lot of Cosmo, but it should be sufficient to act as a beacon. Do you need also Aphrodite with me? –

Mask offering to bring in another person to _help_ him deal with the Underworld? Granted, Aphrodite was her other Guardian, but Helena couldn't help but feel that the only thing stranger than that would have been if Mask had ask to bring in Manigoldo.

-It might be better! Two shining beacons are better than one, after all! –

Mask was very glad she had accepted. On a normal day he would have bristled and cursed and refused any help whatsoever in dealing with something so banal like opening a tunnel through Hell, but not today. He had already messed too many things up in regard to Helena, and if bringing Aphrodite along for the ride assured him that his precious sister would make it back in one piece, then his pride could go fuck itself.

Death Mask hadn't even managed to send Aphrodite more than Helena's name than the pretty warrior had already materialized next to him in front of the Fourth.

"Where is she? Helena?!"

"Aphrodite calm down! She ain't here, but she will need our help to get back!"

The Pisces Saint's face was a mask of puzzlement and in any other day it would have been hilarious, but on that day, with his baby sister still in probable danger, Mask just wanted to get things done.

Switching back to communicating with Cosmo Mask quickly brought his boyfriend up to speed with what they needed to do.

-So, let me get this straight, Helena went to Asgard to bring back the popsicle and now she is stuck there and the only way they can both be back is through Hell? And we need to act as beacons so she can lock onto our cosmos and trace the path? –

-You got the basics down, Dite. –

-Helena? Is that really you? –

-Not now Aphrodite! You'll talk when she is back here! –

Still no cursing, but the short-tempered man resembled more Death Mask than the subdued one, and for this Helena thanked Athena.

"Camus, we are about to open a path! Go straight ahead on it, _do not_ deviate! And most important: do not look back! I will be behind you, but _never_ try to look back to check. Have I made myself clear?"

Helena could see he was a bit perplexed by her strange instructions, but this wasn't really the time to get philosophical. Getting through Hell was no easy business without the Eight Sense, and at that very moment Camus could barely activate the Sixth, let alone the Arayashiki.

-I am really hoping he doesn't stray…it would have been better if you had called Milo down there too… -

-I am already here, Helena! What do I do? –

-Milo! Nice to hear you! Listen, contact Camus and establish a private conversation with him. Keep him focused, keep him calm. He doesn't need to think about what lies outside the path, ok? And if he strays, talk him back on the path! –

-What happens if he strays? –

-Remember Eurydice?-

-Got it! –

Helena felt the rise of the Aquarius' Cosmo beside her and she gently pushed Camus onto the path she had just opened. She had every faith in the fact that, with Milo being in front of him, Camus would have never looked back. As for her, well, that was a whole different game; she had never had any problems in Hell and she didn't think they would start now.

Oh how wrong she was!

-Come on Helena! Come back home! –

Home, such a beautiful word!

\- I am coming Aphrodite! –

She had just entered fully on the path when she first felt it. A shift in her Cosmo. A tiny rift in two of her connections: the ones with her Guardians.

-Mask! Dite! What is happening? –

-We have no idea _mein leibling! _Death Mask is trying to stabilize the connection, but we are losing you!-

Losing her? What the fuck did this mean?

-Ophiucus! What's happening? Why am I losing the connection with them? –

The grim face of the Snake Master told her she wasn't going to like the answer.

-You are choosing another set of Guardians, Helena! –

-What? Why?-

-Connection shattered when they died and their subsequent lack of trust in you, made them unsuitable for the role! –

Helena could almost feel Cancer and Pisces shock, leaving a bad aftertaste in her mouth. Unsuitable for the role? What did that mean?

\- Master what do you mean? Tell it isn't one of your schemes to get me another set of Guardians because I told you weren't going to win this battle! –

-I swear to you Helena, I am not doing this on purpose! Yeah, I admit that I never really approved of your choice of Guardians, but you had been happy and they didn't do a totally shitty job in protecting you, so I let them stay! But this is different, this is worse! This is something I don't have control over! Your Cloth, me if you want, is choosing another set of Guardians, whether you want it or not! –

Helena could almost picture the panic attack she was sure Aphrodite was having and she almost heard the curses Mask was addressing to the heavens. She didn't want to change Guardians, she had chosen them the first time – against everything her Cloth had tried to impose her – and she would choose them again this time. She only needed to figure out how.

-You said that I am to change Guardians because their lack of trust in me made them unsuitable, but who are you going to choose? They all didn't trust me! –

It wasn't really true, after all Aldebaran hadn't lost his faith in her, but she hoped the Snake Master was too busy, to remember that tiny detail.

Helena could see that her question had halted her Cloth's choice and she hoped it would be enough for her next move.

Closing her eyes she started gathering her Cosmo around her, building it, nurturing it. She knew what would come next. She had already experienced it. The twelve symbols of the constellations appeared in front of her, like sign on a fortune wheel.

She smiled; her Cloth had apparently decided to let Fate decide. Well, she could give Fate a nudge.

When the wheel started spinning Helena concentrated her Cosmo on the two symbols she wanted. Slowly she started releasing her Cosmo into the wheel, forcing it to submit to her will.

She felt it fight back, her Cloth angry at her and trying to regain control, but she didn't let go.

Helena had already fought the same battle and had come out a winner the first time. She was aiming for the same result the second time as well.

Ever so slowly the wheel started to halt its course and Helena fought the urge to close her eyes and pray for the best; if she wanted that result she needed to see it. To picture it in her mind.

The two hands on the clock were going to point at her new Guardians any second, but Helena wasn't about to sit tight and wait for Luck. When she felt the hands nearing her intended target she let loose her Cosmo and forced the hands. She felt them struggle under her power, more than the previous time – she supposed that the previous time she hadn't been running on fumes – and for a moment she thought she had lost the war.

But as the ding of the choices resounded in Hell's atmosphere, Helena couldn't help but grin. She had made it!

-Looks like you got what you wanted, Helena! _Again_! You sure it's your choice? –

-Yes Master! I am very sure! Now, let's go home! –

A blinding white light enveloped her and when she finally opened her eyes the first thing she saw was her two Guardians' dumbstruck faces.

"Hi guys! I'm back!"

If she expected a hug, a pat on the back, even a yell, she was sorely disappointed. Neither of her Guardians had moved a muscle.

Finally she saw Death Mask inhale and open his mouth, presumably to start speaking.

He croaked something unintelligible the first couple of times, but at the third try he managed a full, if shaky, sentence.

"You chose us?"

Ok, now that was a weird question.

"What wouldn't I have chosen you?"

"Because of what we did! We betrayed you!"

"Yeah, you might have betrayed me – not really sure about that, but still – you might have betrayed my trust, you might have betrayed our friendship. You definitely let me down!"

"Then why did you choose us?"

Oh Aphrodite! How could he not see it?

"Why? Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference? It didn't make a difference the first time, the one time you went after Athena! Why would it make a difference now? When I was the one to provoke you?"

Helena could see she had shocked them. Those silly boys had never even contemplated that fact. She simply cared for them far too much, to let something as silly as a misunderstanding get in the way.

"Yes, I am hurt by the fact that you didn't see beyond the ruse, beyond the words and into the soul. I am disappointed and hurt, and I can guarantee you it won't be easy to gain back my full trust! But I don't want you out of my life! I wouldn't have done what I did if I wanted that! I wouldn't have risked your wrath if I wanted you out of my life, I would have let you die! So stop being so surprised about my choice and start making amends so that I do not change my mind!"

Helena saw Mask and Dite smile. A small smile, no more than a thin grin, but it was there nonetheless. They were going to be ok.

"Shall we get out of this House? I get the feeling Camus is ready to tear Hell apart if I don't go out soon, and I really don't want to go and fetch him from Cocytus. I had enough cold to last me more than one lifetime!"

Getting up she extended her hands towards her two Guardians who were still kneeling on the floor. Her smile widened when their hands joined in hers and she pulled them up.

Still smiling she turned toward the exit of the Fourth House, outside of which the rest of her family was waiting.

Yes, they hadn't trust her and that had hurt, but they were still there, still willing to make amends, to get her back, and for Helena this was more important than anything else.

She would forgive them and, in time, they would learn to forgive themselves.

They were going to be all right; after all, they were together!


	31. Capelli bianchi

"What in the name of Athena happened to your hair?"

Of all the things Helena had imagined her brothers would have told her after her return, this had never even made the list.

Why was Saga yelling about her hair? What had happened to it? Helena tentatively brought forth her braid, but she couldn't see anything worth yelling about.

But the terrified squeak that Aphrodite had produced had not only the power to devastate her poor hearing, as well as Mask's, but told her that something monumental had really happened to her hair.

"Dite? What happened?"

The chocking sounds her pretty Guardian was making were worrying Helena of the possibility of an impending panic attack. What could have possibly happen to make Aphrodite freak out like this?

She turned to her last resort for sanity, surely Death Mask was going to answer her in his gruff and almost angry voice, and she was going to feel so much reassured by that.

"Mask? Care to tell me what is the problem?"

But apparently even the great devil-may-care attitude of Death Mask had somehow gone, and the fierce warrior of the Fourth House had left his place to an idiot with his mouth open.

What in the name of Athena was happening? Why everybody was so…gobsmacked?

"Is anyone going to tell me what had happened to my hair that has you so stunned?"

Nope, apparently an answer to her question wasn't on their list of priorities. She fixed her eyes on her brothers' faces – Athena hadn't still come down from her temple, which was both a blessing, if anything was truly wrong, and a curse since she would have the only one to tell her what was happening – hoping to threaten them enough to answer her question, but the only thing she could see on their faces, apart from the surprise, was a mounting sense of guilt and dread, that was even more amplified on Mask's face.

Now Helena was really starting to worry.

"Don't panic Snake girl! There's nothing wrong with you, at least not more than usual!"

That mocking tone: Griphon no Minos. Helena could have identified the man anywhere and everywhere by his slightly mocking aura alone. It almost seemed like the man couldn't take anything too seriously, but Helena knew that to be false. Minos took few things seriously, as opposed to Rhadamantys who took the whole world with far more seriousness that needed, but when he was serious he had a mean way to conduct business.

And so, in that moment, the mocking tone of the First Judge relaxed her far more than any other reassurance could have hoped to. Because, if Minos hadn't detected anything serious, than the problem wasn't irreparable.

One could have argued about the fact that Helena was putting a lot of faith in an Infernal Judge, but she had always known that Minos, despite the cool attitude, had a soft spot for her. The fact that she had a soft spot for him too, was an added bonus and a fact that she was going to take to her grave.

"Then, dear Minos, why are they all trying their best impressions of dead fishes?"

"You simply have white hair, dear Helena!"

White hair? They were all making that fuss for white hair?

Knowing the damage, if it could be called such, would be on the hair in front of her face since the braid behind her back didn't seem to be affected by the change in colour, Helena decided she needed a mirror.

The Fourth House at her back, she knew, wouldn't help her in her search as she knew for a fact that Mask had never owned a mirror prior to her coming – how he shaved was a miracle in itself – and she didn't think Manigoldo would be the type to own one.

But, if she remembered correctly, and the Houses hadn't changed too much, Leo's House had an internal bath space, where there should have been mirrors.

With that thought in mind, she jumped over her brothers and went towards the Fifth House, very intent on finding out what the damn fuss was all about.

When she finally arrived into the huge bath that had always characterized the Fifth House, Helena found out that she was afraid: what if her brothers' faces meant she had become ugly? Something like a monster? What if they wouldn't want anything to do with her anymore? But after a minute of silent contemplation of that scenario, Helena shook her head and proceeded towards a mirror; if she had really become ugly, she would deal with the consequences of it later.

Steeling herself she opened her eyes, she had previously closed, to gaze into the mirror and what she saw left her astonished.

"CHE FIGATA!"

The yell had taken everyone by surprise, Cancer no Death Mask, more than the others.

Death Mask had been unconsciously preparing himself for the worst since Helena's disappearance inside the Leo's Temple, but not even in his wildest dreams he could have foreseen his sister's reaction. Not that anyone could blame him: since his birth his silvery white hair and red eyes had been the talk of his little village. His family had been shamed and he had been branded an outcast, the child of the Devil. His parents hadn't loved him any less, but he seen their relieved faces when his little sister had been born with a tuft of solid black hair and the muted red of her irises could have passed for light brown.

Having experienced that Death Mask had never wanted anybody else to suffer the same torments he had endured as a child, even in Sanctuary where the colours of everybody's hair looked more like a rainbow than anything else. The fact that now the young woman he considered as precious as his sister had somehow inherited his silvery white hair brought up acid at the back of his mouth.

He had already taken away many things from her, the theft of her normal appearance was more than Mask could endure.

Which was why he couldn't really believe his ears when the yell that pierced the air, and which had called in front of the Fourth the XVIII Gold Saints and Athena, had been one of pure elation instead of pure horror.

Less than ten seconds later a blur slammed hard into his chest, and for the second time in a month Death Mask found himself holding up a very excited Ophiucus Saint, whose grip resembled the one of a koala with a tree.

"What the fuck is happening here? What's the commotion?"

"Why can't you be a little less rude, Manigoldo? Is it too much to ask?"

Thoroughly ignoring Albafica's whining, Cancer no Manigoldo scanned the crowd in front of him, blue eyes intent on finding the reason of the impromptu gathering in front of his House.

He, alongside the others, had been descending the stairs between the Temples, to go and find out where their future counterparts had gotten, when he had heard the exited yell. Having identified the words pronounced as a good message rather than a bad one, the Cancer Saint had started descending the stairs at a quicker pace, curiosity fuelling his actions.

And now, in front of his House Manigoldo had found out the party and, much to his annoyance, the source of the happy yelling.

"Che cazzo c'hai da ridere, cretina?"

Maybe, Manigoldo could have formulated the question in a less rude manner, but the face of his future self had been hilarious to see.

"Cazzi tuoi mai, Manigoldo?"

The uncouth laugh at his back told Manigoldo that, even though Kardia hadn't understood exactly what they had said, what he had managed to grasp had been enough to realize that the Cancer Saint had been played. Apparently Manigoldo had never realized that the Ophiucus Saint spoke Italian.

A wiser man might have decided to leave the battlefield and retire, but Manigoldo had never considered himself wise.

"A furia di stare con il vecchio ti sono venuti i capelli bianchi pure a te, piccerilla?"

In the exact moment his last word sounded in the air, Manigoldo understood that he had poked his nose in business he had not right to intrude upon.

Mask's face, for those who had seen the decorations of the Fourth House, looked like one of the masks that had once sat on the walls of the Cancer House.

The silence hung heavy around them and Manigoldo was already fumbling to try and find the right words to excuse himself when a voice interrupted his frantic search.

"Non trovi anche tu che siano una figata, Manigoldo?"

In the even thicker silence that followed that question the only sound that could be heard was the muted thump of the two Cancer Saints' jaws, which had hit the marble of the Temple.

Manigoldo, in a last second effort to save face, or whatever was left of it, decided to retire from the impending fight that looked very out of his league, going back next to Albafica, who shot his a mocking grin.

Death Mask, on the other hand, was trying to wake himself up from the absurd dream he had accidentally conjured up; there was no way in Hell he had heard Helena correctly.

"Mask, what did I say?"

Helena looked around, hoping to find an answer to her question, but as the others hadn't understood a word of what had been said, she sadly found none.

"Death Mask, did I say something _wrong_? Are you bothered by the fact that I now have hair like you? You do know that I can always colour them black, after all Aphrodite is very good with beauty products and…"

"HELENA!"

The angry outburst finally put a stop on the verbal diarrhea of the girl in front of him who, at least, had the good grace of looking a tad ashamed.

"I was blabbering again right? Sorry Mask…"

Another excuse, another sorry from those small lips, when was he going to learn the art of talking with his sister without her apologizing?

"No, Helena…I am sorry! I shouldn't have yelled at you!"

When Death Mask tried to look at Helena in her eyes he was a bit taken aback by the fact that she looked frightened.

"Ooook…who are you and what have you done to my brother?"

The defence position she had put herself in, all the while being attached to his torso like a koala, should have frightened him but the only result it managed to obtain was making him laugh.

Laughter that died a very swift death when he felt the rise of the Ophiucus' Cosmo, luminous and deadly.

"What the fuck are you doing Helena? Now you're going to kill me because I laughed? You've gone idiot?"

"You're back!"

"Back? You stupid or something? I was never gone! And disengage yourself from me! Do I look like a fucking plush toy to you? I you want to hug somebody so desperately than go hug Milo; I heard he needs it, after all it's known the popsicle isn't capable of affection!"

Both Helena and Death Mask felt the rise of the two cosmos, so different and yet so complementary, but the Cancer Saint was also very aware that, with Helena so close to him, not Camus and definitely not Milo would risk attacking him.

"Now stop it you three! I have had enough of your petty arguments!"

Helena's words had the power to deflate the three Saints faster than a hole in an air balloon but, as she was still mad at them, there was no smile this time to sweeten the blow.

Picking back up the discarded thread of conversation she was having, Helena searched that sea of faces for the one she was interested in and when she found him she smiled.

"Non mi hai ancora risposto, Manigoldo…non trovi che siano una figata?"

The deeply amused chuckle coming from Death Mask made Helena turn her head back onto her Guardian, leaving a very relieved Manigoldo the possibility to slink into the shadows once more. He was never going to understand the little she-devil!

"Lo pensi davvero, Helena?"

She smiled a genuine smile of pure happiness.

"Perché non dovrei Death Mask?"

How could he make her understand the shame attached to those hairs?

"Those hair will brand you like _el diavulu_, the Devil incarnate…is this what you want?"

How could he not understand?

"I am already branded as the Devil as you say and this hair won't make a difference to those who thinks I am an abomination, but they will make all the difference in the world to me!"

Could he really hope?

"We couldn't be more physically different Mask but this hair, silver like yours, will brand me not as _el diavulu_ but as your _soru_, your sister, and there's nothing in my life that I wanted more than this!"

Death Mask wasn't going to cry, he had a reputation to uphold! Aphrodite, on the other hand, had no such qualms and after jumping on top of both Mask and Helena, broke down in heart-wrenching sobs that had Helena fear he was going to suffocate.

Sandwiched in between the two most important people in her life, Helena understood that the moment had come.

Gently disentangling herself from the vice-grip of Aphrodite she looked first at her Guardians and then at all her other people gathered in front of the Cancer Temple.

"Come with me, all of you! It's about time I told you my story!"

Translations:

Che figata: How cool

Che cazzo c'hai da ridere, cretina: What the fuck are you laughing at, stupid

Cazzi tuoi mai, Manigoldo: Mind your own fucking business

A furia di stare con il vecchio ti sono venuti i capelli bianchi pure a te, piccerilla? : You spent so much time with the old man that you got white hairs as well, little one?

Non trovi anche tu che siano una figata, Manigoldo? : Don't you thing they are very cool, Manigoldo?

Non mi hai ancora risposto, Manigoldo…non trovi che siano una figata? : You still haven't answered me, Manigoldo...Don't you think they are cool?

Lo pensi davvero, Helena? : You really think that, Helena?

Perché non dovrei Death Mask? : Why shouldn't I, Death Mask?


	32. C'era una volta

When they were all comfortably seated inside the small but cosy garden of the Ophiucus Temple – the Temple itself was still in ruin, and it would be Sara's job to fix it, but at least the garden was still serviceable and it would serve very well for the simple purposes of storytelling – with Helena half reclined on top of Aphrodite who was using Death Mask as a pillow, the future Ophiucus Saint started her story.

"As you very well know, my dear brothers, during the years I have manifested the strange ability of seeing and talking to people who, apparently, weren't there…"

Helena felt, more than see, her two Guardians nod her heads in agreement of what she said. They had been the first ones to notice this peculiar trait of hers, but as the seconds ticked by she could see that all the others had joined Dite and Mask in their nodding. Even Saori had once discovered her best friend laughing at thin air.

If the current era's Gold Saints found this prologue a bit strange, thankfully they refrained from mentioning it.

"This is the story of how I met them."

A loud crash, followed by an equally loud and angry curse in French told Helena, and all the others that the very excitable Milo of Scorpio had overturned himself and had collapsed onto an unsuspecting Camus, overturning his as well.

Valiantly trying to hold back her laughter, Helena proceeded to ignore the antics of his favourite brother, after Mask and Dite, and went on with her story.

"I was three when I met the first two of them for the first time. At that time I didn't know who they were nor that nobody, apart from me, could see them. Mum and Dad thought nothing of it, chalking that up to the usual imaginary friends every child develops around that age. My twin brother, a bit put out by the fact that he couldn't see them, thought it was the coolest thing of all!"

Warms chuckles escaped from all of her brothers, with Saori the one laughing harder than anybody else.

"Where is this twin brother of yours? How come he is not here, protecting you, like they all are?"

As always the curiosity had bested the golden scorpion and an uneasy silence descended on the gathering while Helena debated whether to tell them or not.

Deciding to go for an half truth she could explain later, without ruining the story, Helena answered Kardia.

"He died…"

Not a complete lie, and not the truth either. After all Pegasus no Seiya _had died_ more than a couple of times before being miraculously revived by some entity or another.

"Shit, Helena! I'm so sorry!"

"Relax Kardia! It happened a long time ago…"

The Scorpio Saint didn't look particularly convinced by her explanation, but at least he fell silent again, letting her resume her story.

"As I was saying, I was the only one in my family, and in the whole world, who could see them but I was very, very young and I wanted friends. My parents were a little worried by the meticulous descriptions of the two I had given them: after all who wouldn't worry if their daughter told them she was hanging out with a beautiful Ice Queen with the power to freeze water and an inveterate gambler with a long red nail he used to impale people in the heart with. Both of them rigorously wearing two Golden armours resembling the zodiac signs of Aquarius and the Celestial Scorpion."

In the silence that followed her last statement she took her time to observe Camus and Milo's reactions to the news she had met their constellations when she was three. While Camus was wearing his usual mask of composed shock, Milo looked like a cat who had just swallowed a canary. All in all no strange reactions from them!

"Early on I had discovered that, not only I could see them, I could touch them and I could talk to them and hear them! A fact, hearing them, that still haunts me down to this day since Ace, the Scorpion Cloth, has never stopped talking since!"

Aioros' amused chuckle at the expense of Milo's red face brought a smile to Helena's lips, a smile that widened when she shared a look of long suffering understanding with Saga.

A small chuckle escaped her lips when she caught sight of Ace's himself, whose expression thoroughly resemble the one of a man who had just sucked on a particularly acid lemon.

Milo's eyes followed hers to the place she was looking at, and he almost chocked on his own spit when he saw the man Helena had been talking about, currently perched on the window sill, shuffling a deck of cards.

"Helena? Can you…do you…"

"Yes Milo! I can see him! I told you, I always could!"

"Is he really…my Cloth?"

Somehow the idea of his Cloth and an inveterate gamble and a possible bad man didn't sit very well with Milo, a fact which Helena picked upon.

"Relax Milo! He looks far more frightening than he really is!"

The relieved, if only slight, expression of her youngest older brother, made almost worth it the Scarlet Needle she had to dodge from Ace's very displeased form. But the uncalled for attack – which had scared all of her brothers who still couldn't really see the mysterious attacker – was swiftly punished by the Snake Master himself, who had delivered a swift punch to the other's face catapulting him onto Ice's lap, from where the Aquarius' Cloth herself proceeded to deliver the final blow.

All of this with Helena, Milo and Camus as witnesses, the last two a bit shocked by the extemporary scene in front of them.

"Anyway…as I was saying…"

Seeing Milo's hand shooting up in the air, Helena resigned herself to be interrupted once more.

"Yes, Milo?"  
"Why do you call them Ace and Ice Queen? Don't they have, like, names?"

For once, the boy had asked an intelligent question; as for the answer…

"They did have names as far as I know, but they lost their right to them when they became Cloths. To be scientifically accurate, they haven't got names except for the one of the constellation they represent. As for how _I_ call them, well you couldn't really expect a baby of three to pronounce the constellations correctly, too much of a hassle, so I gave them nicknames, if you want, based on what I thought was their main characteristic or what or who they reminded me of. As the years passed the nicknames kind of stuck and now they refer to each other with them. Before you ask: Aquarius is Ice, due to the fact that, if she isn't careful, everything she touches becomes ice, and Ace well…you've seen the deck of cards right? The first present he ever gave me was the Ace of Hearts, hence the name…"

Helena looked over to where Ace was seated and noted that Ice had joined him and the two of them were making out passionately in the background.

"Ace! Ice! There are things I _really_ don't need to see, you two!"

Camus, who had apparently guessed what the two Cloths were busy doing, blushed scarlet trying to look anywhere but at Milo.

"Helena, but our sentiments…"

"Are entirely your own Camus! They might be influenced by how the Cloths relate to each other, but the fact that two constellations are in love with each other will not necessarily mean the two Saints will fall in love. Look at Sisyphus and Aioros for example: one is in love with Capricorn and friend with Gemini, the other is the complete opposite. As for their constellations…well…I can assure you that neither of the combinations is true, but it's not my place to disclose anything else!"

If she did, Helena was sure that Excalibur would have cut down every explanation she could come up with.

Feeling satisfied with her answer – he didn't think he could have coped with the fact that his being in love with Milo was only a by-product of their Cloths' love story – Camus nodded to Helena his assent to her continuation of her story.

"As I was saying, the first two of them I could see had been Ice and Ace, and for more or less six months they were the only ones who appeared to me. One winter day, just before my fourth birthday me and my brother were playing in a field that extended at the back of our house. It had snowed the day before and the temperatures were cold, but not freezing enough to transmute water into ice. There was a pond in that field, half frozen and my brother wanted so much to skate on it that he persuaded me to ask Ice to freeze it. Probably moved by my big doe eyes she did it, and so me and Seiya started skating. To this day none of us, me, Ice, even Ace, know what really happened. The only thing I know is that the ice cracked underneath us and I dropped into the icy water. My brother had been saved by Ace's quick reflexes, but I had slipped through Ice's fingers. I remember being cold, very cold, and I remember the feeling of knowing I was about to die. And then in the blackness around me I saw a light and two strong arms caught me and pulled me out of the water. In less than ten seconds my mysterious saviour had stripped me of my soaking wet things, wrapped me up in a chequered blanket he had conjured from thin air and dropped me into the lap of the biggest man I had ever seen, who smiled at me and handed me a biscuit while hugging me like a mama bear."

She smiled fondly at the two figures who had just materialized next to a guilt looking Ice who was being hugged but a concerned looking Ace.

While Dohko had never been on her list of closest people she could relate to - after all, more than a big brother the man could be her great grand-father, and sometimes he had acted like one too! - she was a very close friend of Linn, the Libra Cloth.

"When you mean big, do you mean…"

"Yeah Aioria, I mean exactly that! Taurus! But do take into consideration that I was four at the time and even Libra seemed a big man!"

The muttered strings of curses in Mandarin prompted Dokho to turn himself around to see what the commotion was about, only to freeze in shock when his eyes locked onto another set of eyes the Libra Saint was certain hadn't been behind him before.

"Nin hao…"

Completely ignoring the polite salutation Dohko had uttered, the Chinese man focused his flaming eyes on the spot where Helena was seated.

"I. Am. Not. Small!"

Smirking evilly Helena responded in kind.

"Whatever you say Linn...but next time you need help to take something off the high shelf don't come looking for me! I've got enough witnesses to withstand your court hearing and win!"

Taurus' hearty laugh resounded in the small garden – deafening everyone who had the misfortune of having been seated next to the massive man without knowing it since the Cloths were still invisible except to their owners– accompanied by Ice's chiming bells and Ace's amused chortles.

In the end even Dohko, who was now fully seeing his Cloth for the first time in over 200 years, decided that the expression of his face was so funny he started laughing as well. At that the Libra Cloth conceded defeat and started laughing as well.

At that point Helena, sensing that her Guardians were getting a little antsy about all those invisible people, released a burst of Cosmo and finally, for the first time in a very long time, the Cloths were visible to all occupants of the garden.

Reactions varied, but Helena could have predicted them all without much effort: Milo's excited childlike face, mirrored in Aioria's own expression; Camus' healthy dose of scepticism; Aioros' quiet amusement and Shura's unimpressed demeanour; Dohko's twinkling eyes and Mu's quiet shock; Shaka's sublime indifference on the matter; Saga's exasperation and Kanon's mischievous smile; Aldebaran's grin, so wide Helena feared his face would split in two; and finally her two Guardians, one of them grumbling about the appearance of "more idiots than the ones we already had" and the other trying to hide his excitement behind a mask of cool indifference. As for Saori, she didn't really count since, as Athena, she had already been very familiar with the Cloths, but it brought a smile to Helena's face to see her looking so _human_ while interacting with a pleased Taurus, who was handing everyone his famous biscuits.

"Ehi Cook! Don't give them _all_ away!"

"Don't you worry baby snake! I have made a batch _just_ for you!"

"You are the best! And before you ask, Milo, yes, I did nickname him Cook, because he is the only one, in that sorry lot, who can actually do more than put some water to boil and hope it doesn't burn!"

Helena took a moment to spare a glance to the XVIII century's Gold Saints, who had been unusually quiet during the exchange. They looked more or less bewildered by the fact they were seeing their Cloths, but somehow less bothered than her own brothers. A quick glance towards Shion and she understood the motive: the Cloth Repairer had apparently materialized the Cloths in the past, thus enabling his companions to, at least, see what they looked like. That was a handy skill, one that Helena had never understood why Shion hadn't passed on to Mu.

Knowing the surprises weren't finished yet, Helena called everyone back to order.

"All right guys! Now that you have your belly full with Cook's biscuits, it's time we pick the story up where we left it!"

Trying to sit back down in the position she had been in before the interruption, Helena was surprised when Death Mask's hands shot up and pulled her down onto his lap, instead of Aphrodite's.

Deciding not to ask, she shrugged and readied herself to continue the story.

"With Cook and Linn now I could see four of them and I started sensing a pattern: after all, if you could see four constellations, it was inferred that the rest of them would, sooner or later, show themselves up. Seiya and I started a betting pool on who would manifest next, and he nailed it! Next in line were two brothers, one proud and majestic, the other playful and kind. From them I learned the concepts of honour, loyalty, and friendship. I learned about Athena, and her peculiar brand of justice. They taught me about Sanctuary and, one night, the playful one told me a story I would never forget: a story of a deep friendship, of a lost brotherhood, of betrayal and blood. A story about friends turning on other friends, mentors and role-models struck down in the dirt, of a small baby about to be killed and of the sacrifice of a young hero in order to let her live…"

A gasp made Helena pause her story and turned slightly to her left where Saga was frantically trying to get his breathing under control. She made it to stand up and go to him but a young man of twenty with semi-long dirty blond hair, and grey eyes beat her to the punch.

She could only watch as said man vigorously slapped her Pope on his back trying, and failing miserably, at stopping an impending panic attack, the likes of which she hadn't seen in more than five years. As Saga was flailing more and more desperately, and his young saviour was starting to look more and more worried, the other man, this one with a fiery mane and penetrating green eyes, stepped up and punched Saga in the face. Hard.

"Kaiser! What the hell were you thinking?"

The man turned slowly around and fixed Helena with a kingly stare, while a big golden lion, who had appeared next to the man, started growling.

"Don't you growl at me, you oversized kitten! And you don't get to give me _that_ look, Kaiser!"

"I solved the problem Heleiana, so why are you yelling at me?"

The cold, almost harsh delivery, as the use of her full name, would have offended Helena, had she not been used to it, but it still irked.

"You call that solve the problem? You have been wanting to punch him in the face since _that_ night, Kaiser! So now don't try to pass me for an idiot and use this as an excuse!"

"I won't deny that I had wanted to punch him for quite some time…"

At that Helena snorted in derision: "quite some time" meant more than a decade but Kaiser had always played the part of the noble man, never stooping as low as admitting the pure, unadulterated truth, especially if it made him look like a commoner.

"…but even you will admit that it _did_ the trick. So I don't see why you are complaining!"

The almost whining quality of the Lion Cloth's voice while delivering the last sentence grated on Helena's nerves worse than Death Mask with a hangover.

"How in the world is it possible that you and Tox are related?"

She knew of course. She had seen much of Kaiser's pride reflected into Tox's eyes and the Sagittarius kindness showing through he Lion's detached demeanour not to see the resemblance, but still, on a day like today Kaiser was one of the most insufferable people to be around.

"I suppose I should thank Athena that Ria is nothing like you, or I would have had to kill myself long before now!"

Again a half lie; while Aioria hadn't taken _everything_ after his constellation, there was enough stubborn pride in the man that, during her training, she had gone to sleep back at the Fourth House more often than not, just to avoid him and his strutting ego!

The snickers, badly covered as coughs, that both Tox and Ros were giving her, told Helena that neither Sagittarius believed her story.

Shaking her head at men's stupidity Helena, after a last glance at a still recovering Saga, decided to move on with her story.

"After Tox and Kaiser, the next couple who came to me were Fix and Cal. It had been raining that day and me and Seiya were indoor playing when he accidentally decapitated my favourite doll. I started crying my eyes out, and to his credit my brother did try to fix his mistake, obviously making a bigger mess. In the middle of it, when I had almost resigned myself to have a broken doll for life, said doll started glowing and, under both our stupefied faces, it fixed itself. When the light was gone, my doll was in the hands of another mysterious gentleman with flowing green hair and gentle green eyes, with the strangest Cloth I had ever seen for it had two heavy looking horns framing the stranger's face. A bit put out by the fact that the horns were in the way of me hugging the man for thanks I smiled at him and went to collect my doll. To this day I don't think _any_ girl has a Barbie doll with an orichalcos Gold Cloth and platinum joints! The mysterious repairer told me that the doll was indestructible and my brother had gone to fetch a hammer to test that theory. As we were waiting for him to return another man came out of the light and, after taking a quick glance at said doll, moved his right arm upwards and yelling he brought it back down on the poor thing. As the light dissolved the repairer, who I had named Fix in my head as it was easier to call him, was dismayed to discover that, under one of the most powerful attacks, the doll had sustained grave injuries. Upon seeing that I had a mini break down and started screaming bloody murder at the new comer. I think I terrified him that day, I don't think he had ever been attacked by a rabid five-year-old whose doll he had just destroyed. To his credit, Fix repaired the doll perfectly – which is why I now have a doll in titanium instead than one in plastic! – and promptly gave it back to me. As for Cal, I haven't still quite decided whether I am still mad at him or not!"

The Aries Cloth, who had appeared soon after she had started their story, smiled at the sheepish looking young man, with short black hair, who was trying very hard not to be seen by Helena.

"Why Cal?"

The question took Helena off guard, not in itself but for the man who had asked it.

"Because my dear Shura, the first thing he said to me was 'Excalibur'. At that time I didn't know what it was and I thought he was introducing himself, so I shortened it in Cal!"

"Oh, that's why! I always did wonder where you picked up that name…"

"Well…it was you the one who decided to enter my room yelling your sword's name and destroying my precious doll in the process…"

"Oh, c'mon princess! I said I was sorry! It's been years!"

Smirking lightly to herself – Cal knew full well she had forgiven him time and time again, but this exchange had become a sort of game between them, one they were both loathe to give up – Helena took a deep breath in order to continue her story.

"Fix and Cal where the last two who appeared to me in a time of peace. The situation at my house had turned progressively worse. My father, a famous judge, had always received an extraordinary amount of hate mail and threats from the Yakuza, but after my fifth birthday the situation had turned from bad to worse. Written threats had become phone calls in the middle of the night, bullets in the mail, and once or twice a shadow in our wake. Once a particularly vicious boss of the Yakuza tried to kidnap my brother and me. That's when I met for the first time Teach and Lover, also known as Virgo and Pisces."

At that point Helena purposefully interrupted her story, to let the two Cloths materialize and enjoy her brothers' reactions.

When the light around the two newcomers died down she heard Dite gasp in shock and Mask curse, and even Shaka looked shocked by the apparition. Because what no one had ever guessed was that both the Virgo and Pisces Cloths were _females_.

"Now, that explains a few things…"

Death Mask's poorly timed exclamation earned him a venomous rose three millimetres off his cheek while Manigoldo, who hadn't been as lucky, was writhing in pain on the floor, courtesy of Albafica who had probably punished the other for the same, idiotic remark.

Giggling like an idiot, Helena looked over at the two girls who had made a beeline for Ice and were now chatting away with the other girl, completely ignoring their audience and the shock that had created.

"The Virgo Cloth is _female_?"

Aioria, thankfully, hadn't made any comments on the Pisces Cloth otherwise Helena knew she would have had to quickly intervene before things escalated into World War III.

"As you can see…"

"But…"

"Male or female is not important in the eyes of Buddha. Only one's interior power is needed to elevate oneself onto the path of purity."

Leave it to Shaka to deliver a speech on male-female equality, and make it sound like a sermon; but, if nothing else, Teach seemed to have appreciated it, so Helena wasn't complaining.

"Apart from Shaka's lesson, you should have guessed Virgo was a female Aioria! Have you ever taken a look at the Cloth?"

As understanding dawned in the lion's eyes Helena resumed her story. She had a bad feeling her time was, somehow, coming to a close a lot sooner than she had anticipated, and she had a lot more to tell. The tightening of the grip Death Mask still had onto her middle section told her that her Guardian was aware that something was off.

"As I was saying, Teach and Lover came to our rescue when we were almost kidnapped. If not for the fact that Lover had made a bloody mess on the street, it would have been hilarious to see four grown up man, screaming like geese and running from something they couldn't see. After the rescue they introduced themselves – Teach is short for 'Teacher of Buddha's enlightened ways of life…' and something else I don't remember, while Lover is short for Beauty Lover, which is exactly what she said to me, as presentation! – and my brother and I were quickly shuffled back to the house where the other grim looking Cloths organized our protection. Unfortunately all their planning was for not. Less than a month later our family was attacked. We were out shopping in one of those big shopping malls, for Christmas. One minute I was wishing to Santa Claus for a new sledge so I could race Seiya in the garden, the other Hell had broken loose in the mall. I remember panicked shouts of innocent people dying under a barrage of bullets. I remember smoke bombs making impossible to see. I remember, as clear as day, my father grabbing my mother and us, to move us out of the way. I remember him collapsing on the floor, body riddled with bullets. I remember my mother hugging us, and telling us to run, to take cover and ran we did. The last image I have of my mother is of her kneeling on the floor, arms open, as to shield us, and a gunshot resounding in the air, a second before she collapsed on the floor. Seiya couldn't take it anymore and jumped out of our safe spot and ran towards mum. He was shot less than half a meter before reaching her. At that I started to run as well, but I found myself bound by a rose vine. The killers took notice of me and started shooting. No bullet reached me, all stopped by an invisible wall that had the bullets ricochet back to them. The last thing I remember with perfect clarity is Cal's guilt ridden eyes, before he scooped me up and brought me away from that Hell…"

Helena had expected the thick silence at the end of that story, the shocked disbelief, even the pity. None of her brothers had known her full story, not even Death Mask, whose own story had been so strikingly similar. She had never told them, honouring the promise she had made to Ophiucus. She had thought she had moved past it. She had been angry at the constellations for months, blaming them for something they couldn't have nor predicted nor avoided. But she had been five, and had watched her all family being slaughtered without the possibility of joining them. She had thought she had buried her past, but reliving it hadn't been as painless as she had hoped it to be. She felt Mask's grip on her tighten and the tears she had thought she had shed a long time ago, came spilling forward. Helena turned around and buried her face into her brother's arms crying for her and also for his family, while Mask held on for the both of them. Helena would have loved nothing more than staying into those arms forever, forgetting everything else, but she had something to say, something she had postponed for far too much time.

Looking back at her audience she saw all of them grieving with her, not giving her pity, but unconditional love and support and she loved them all the more for it. Locking her eyes with Saori's Helena forced out the words that she had kept for far too long, determined to mend the relationships she had almost destroyed.

"I hated the constellations for a long time after this. I met the last two of them in the hospital, while I recovered from the aftermath of that day. I met Dum and Dee, the twins bound to the Gemini Cloth, on a bleak day when I wanted nothing more but to die. They had been sent by the others to try and cheer me up, and for a long while they were the only ones who could. I had nothing against them, since they hadn't been with me on that day and so I maintained my connection to them, unconsciously keeping the same connection with the others. They never tried to approach me after the first time in which I yelled at them that I hated them and never wanted to see them again. For the next six months my only companions were the twins and, occasionally I could feel the energy signature of one of the others, but I never acknowledged it. As I said by keeping my connection with the twins I kept it with everybody else thus enabling me, years later to forge those connections that are the base of the ones I share with you, my brothers. I had been assigned to an orphanage, from which I ran as soon as I recovered. After a while, living in the streets like a rat, I realized I missed them all and allowed them back into my life. But what I don't think they understood and still don't understand is that I _have forgiven_ them. It took me a long time, far longer than they deserved, but I know now that what happened was not their fault and the fact they saved me was not their crime but my blessing."

Looking over to where the constellations had huddled together, still guilt ridden for what they had done on that day, Helena spoke again.

"I am sorry I never told you these things, and I am even more sorry about the inexcusable amount of time it took me to understand why you had done it, but if this still holds any value to you, _I forgive you_! Actually I forgave you a long time ago!"

The happy, if a bit watery squeak Lover emitted was the only warning Helena received before a barrage of people jumped her, burying both her and Death Mask under a dog pile of constellations. As Death Mask was already in the mix and her other brothers didn't want to be left out, Saga lead the second charge with a bellowing scream that brought other twelve boys on top of them.

The eerie blue lights of the souls were the only warning Death Mask gave everyone before opening the Yamatsou and disappearing into it with Helena, only to reappear on the other side of the room, next to a very happy looking Saori.

Dee and Dum were the first ones to understand Helena wasn't underneath them anymore and, once they had spotted her and Death Mask out of the commotion, were about to jump them again, only to be stopped by the deadly glare the Cancer Saint was giving them.

"You get any closer and I'll personally see your souls into the deepest pit of Hell!"

The side glance the twins shared would have made a lesser man wince because of the amount of mischievousness in it, but Death Mask had been under Arles's rule for more than a decade, and Kanon's neighbour in the past three years, there wasn't much from the Gemini Saints that could scare him.

"Uh…you look exactly like him, right Dee?"

"Right Dum! Exactly like the Cancer Cloth! Now I know why he was chosen!"

Looking at the dismayed faces of Saga and Kanon, who seemed to have understood the reasoning behind the nicknames so reminiscent of the diabolical twins of Alice in Wonderland, Helena couldn't help but smile widely. It looked like the retelling of her story had been the right thing to do, but the girl couldn't help but worry that, when she finally uncovered the whole truth, things were going to change, and not for the better.

\- I'll have your back baby sister, don't worry! –

\- Thank you, Angelo! –

As the commotion slowly died out, the Saints tried to regain their composure and their seats. Aphrodite looked around trying to find where was the missing one. Not finding him he called to Helena.

"_Lillasyster_, where is he?"

Understanding dawned on every person in the room. For Helena had introduced twelve people, yes, but only eleven Cloths. Not counting the Snake Master, they were still missing one of the twelve signs.

"Yes, Aphrodite's right! Where is Cancer?"

Helena sighed, knowing that Cancer would be elusive unless she hunted him down.

"I met Cancer last, on the day I died…"


	33. La nascita di Ophiucus

_WARNING: There is a slight mention of suicide. Nothing more than that, but please be warned._

_"__I met Cancer last, on the day I died…"_

Death Mask was sure he had heard it wrong. There was no way in Hell he had understood Helena's last words correctly. How could she have _died_? Wasn't she there, in that very moment, alive in his arms?

Judging from the look on anybody else's faces they had all reached the same conclusion, and they all had the sinking suspicion that there was more to Helena's life that the little imp had told them until that moment.

After all, nobody knew anything about her family, except the little nuggets of information she had fed them over the years, and definitely nothing about their bloody deaths.

"Heleiana Takashi died on a clear evening of September, at the age of six years and ten months, exactly twenty-four hours before Athena's Pope found the new Ophiucus Saint."

" .Fuck?"

Death Mask was now very sure he had to have heard wrong. Either that or he was sure he wasn't going to like the story he was about to hear, not one bit.

"No need to be this rude, Mask! As always, it's not in my style to cover up what I mean to say with a lot of other words! I meant exactly what I told you! Heleiana Takahashi died almost fifteen years ago!"

"We are not implying you are a liar, Helena…we are simply trying to understand how is it possible that you died since you are _here_ talking to us…"

As always, Aioros had kept a level head and was trying to diffuse a potential explosive situation. Without much success if the restraining arm he had around Saga was any indication.

The Pope looked ready to kill someone and Helena knew she had to hurry with her story otherwise Athena was going to have to look for another Pope within the Gold Saints.

"But isn't your name Heleiana Midori?"

Thank the stars Athena had saw fit to intervene, thus giving Helena a place to start her story.

"Yes, Saori thank you for the remark. I am called Heleiana Midori _now,_ but twenty years ago I was born Heleiana Takashi, daughter of Shinto Takashi, famous lawyer. The name Midori is the one of the family that adopted me when I went undercover to get close to you…"

"But why the Midori? I mean, you could have picked somebody more, let's say, _loving_?"

"It wasn't my choice Saori, Arles picked them up and I think the reason was twofold: I needed to be adopted into a family of equal social and economic status as yours or I would have never attended your same school and social circle, and they didn't have any heirs to pass their empire to, so they didn't ask many questions when Arles dropped me off on their doorstep! Plus they weren't that bad! I wouldn't have appreciated anyone trying to mother me too lovingly after all…"

The awkward smile Saori managed to conjure up, and that was reflected on all her brothers, had Helena on edge, like a warning of bad things to come.

"Anyhow, this is the story of how I died. I was six, almost seven, when I met death for the first time in my life. My first death was nothing fancy, nor particularly heroic. I was a street rat and I died in the way many street rats do: alone and hungry."

At this Manigoldo flinched so visibly that Albafica turned to him with a questioning eyebrow. Could it be possible that he, the great Manigoldo, had misjudged the girl? He, who had sworn never to judge based only on the outer layer of a person? He knew all too well what it meant to be a street rat: the hungry nights and hungry days, the solitude, the sensation of being 'trash' and nothing more. Manigoldo had been saved from that hell by Sage, who had all but adopted him and had always had a kind word or a small treat for him, even when he was being a scoundrel.

But if anything he had heard from Kardia had been true, Ophiucus had not been as lucky: where Sage had been stern but kind, this Arles sounded more like a bastard.

Looking closely Manigoldo could see the sadness, expertly hidden under a luminous smile and quietly cursed himself for his inability to see it before.

"It had been days since the last time someone had been kind enough to give me a piece of stale bread and that night had been so cold, and I was without any blankets, and it didn't come as a particular surprise when I felt the icy hand of Lady Death on me. At the same time, though, something else was happening. I suddenly found myself enveloped by eerie blue lights, circling my body like little fishes, sometime even bold enough to nip me. In that circle of light I felt the hand of time stop and Death slowly retire. And it was in that moment that I saw him for the very first time. He slowly advanced towards me, detaching from the shadows like he had been part of them, more lights enveloping him, bathing his figure in a sort of ghostly light. He wasn't particularly imposing, but I remember his eyes the most: black as the deepest pits of Hell and alight with the same, wicked fire. He came towards me, like a predator stalking his prey, never uttering a single word. He looked at, with his eyes burning into my very soul and his lips curled in a satanic smirk. After what could have been an eternity he finally spoke and I will forever remember what he said: 'Are you sure she is the one you want? She doesn't look like much! In my opinion it's best if I kill her now and spare her the pain…' I had no idea who he was talking to but let me tell you, I wasn't impressed! Who did he think he was to talk about me like I was some kind of meat on a slab! I was about to give him a piece of my mind, when another male appeared. Where the first one had been something out of a nightmare, hellish but somehow ineffable, the second one was more defined and had gentleness in him that betrayed his stern demeanour. He smiled kindly at me, yet somehow sadly, like he was about to tell me something that could potentially ruin my life. 'Little lady', he said, 'I am about to make you an offer: as you have surely understood you are about to die. I know all about your family and how you wish to reunite yourself with them. But what if they weren't _all_ dead? What if your brother was still alive? What would you do?' I couldn't believe my ears! Seiya alive? It had to be a dream! Had I been older I would have asked him for more details, for the whys and the whos and everything else an adult might think about in a situation that looks more than suspicious. But I was just six and I wanted to see my family so badly that I never asked any questions except one: 'What do I need to do?' With one simple question I had signed away my entire life to a man, who I would discover later, was considered the epitome of everything bad and wicked: the Snake Master. Smiling sadly – like he somehow had hoped for this result and didn't want it – the Master proceeded then to tell me that I needed to surrender my soul to him…"

Silence. In all her years in Sanctuary with the thirteen Gold Saints in front of her, Helena had never managed more than a minute of _almost_ silence. There had always been somebody yelling in the distance, someone cursing because he had dropped something, the noises of the training grounds in the background. Never, ever, in her life as a Saint Helena had managed more than a minute of _almost_ silence, except for that moment. All her brothers resembled the Cloths they represented, immobile and stiff. Helena could even swear that some of them weren't even breathing, probably for fear of upsetting the delicate balance of the man at her back, whose breath she could hear behind her, a frantic staccato rhythm in her ears.

Death Mask was about to explode and, Helena knew this very well, when he was going to do that, things weren't going to be pretty.

Milo's was progressively taking a white tint and even Shura and Aphrodite were starting to worry about the fuming Cancer Saint and the girl in his lap. Said girl, instead, was placidly waiting for the storm to pass, knowing full well that Death Mask would never hurt her, especially if his anger was directed elsewhere, and she suspected she knew the objects of his wrath. The Ophiucus Cloth had wisely decided not to manifest himself for the time being, and she knew she was going to have to hunt down the Cancer Cloth if she ever hoped to see that man.

After five minutes in which everyone was waiting for the big, fiery explosion of Death Mask, who had progressively squeezed Helena into a tight death grip, the Sicilian man took a deep breath, exhaled through his teeth and muttering curses and swear words in the strict dialect of the sunny Italian island he was from, decided to let the matter rest for the moment, intent of killing his Cloth, and the Snake Master, on sight the moment they appeared.

Realizing that nothing more was going to happen, and that everyone was still waiting for her to continue her story, Helena plunged back into the narration.

"As I was saying, the Snake Master told me that I needed to surrender my soul to him. Just to be clear, this ceremony is the typical ceremony with which Ophiucus chooses a new host. While the other Cloths simply cover the Saint they are destined to, sometime creating a very strong bond but nothing more, the Ophiucus Cloth does things a little bit differently. For starters the Snake Master always chooses young girls, he never chose a boy, who are about to die. The reason is twofold. On one hand anybody about to die, when granted a second chance at life will accept it regardless of the consequences. The other reason is that a soul-bond practically destroys the host. You see, I think you have all met my brother Seiya, have you not? Yes? Good! For those who haven't met him, he is incredibly similar to Tenma. As you very well know he has maroon eyes and red-brown hair. I, or better yet Heleiana Takashi, had the same colouring. But on that fateful night, when I surrendered my soul to the Snake Master, everything changed. Gone was the look that branded me as Seiya's twin and gone was the link with him, the one we had shared by virtue of being twins. My body had become the host of an ancient soul, one far more ruthless and wicked than I had ever anticipated. You see, what usually happens when Ophiucus chooses a new host two things can happen, though the former is more probable than the latter: either the Snake Master overpowers the young soul completely, thus transforming the host in a mindless killer, or the host's soul fights back and she manages to counter balance the darkness of the Ophiucus Saint. My case happened to be the second option and that is why I have managed to fight the bloody call in my veins and free myself from the Master's grasp. The abysmal reputation that the Cloth has, comes from the fact that almost every host the Snake Master has taken during the centuries, never managed to balance his soul, thus becoming the perfect tool with which the Master could extract revenge on Athena and her Saints. In the centuries there have been cases like mine, and that's why the Ophiucus Cloth is still a Gold Cloth despite its black past: Athena still sees in the Snake Master the possibility of redemption. There is a third option, but this one is very, very rare: there have been, in history, a handful of cases in which the soul of the host had overpowered the soul of the Ophiucus, and this combination results in a pure soul, in which hatred is banned and love and mercy for all abound: these people usually become renowned healers, rarely taking up the mantle of Saints and almost never share their life of battle. In these cases the Guardians are even more important because they are the only ones that protect the healers from harm."

Helena had the sinking suspicion Sara was one of those souls, if her willingness towards barriers and defensive techniques was any indicator. Usually healers never developed their attacks, preferring to rely on barriers and defence, and letting their Guardians work their magic.

The silence was what drew her out from her thoughts. Once again her audience had taken on the appearances, and apparently the inclinations, of statues. Kanon looked ready to vomit and Saga's eyes had a very dangerous glint in them, one that promised swift and harsh retribution for someone. Helena supposed she could understand them: after all they, more than anybody else, would have understood the implications of the broken twin bond she had shared with Seiya. Even Deuteros looked ready to maim someone on her behalf, and the thought warmed her more than she cared to admit. As for the others well…Helena knew she had to finish her story quickly before one of them, Milo by the looks of it, decided to die on her for something as trivial as heart failure.

A quick movement at her far corner of her vision told Helena that Kardia and El Cid had understood the hidden implications of her explanation and were now looking back and forth between Manigoldo and Sara, probably trying to figure out the best way to tell them the truth. A small part of her mind whispered that she ought to stop them, that sometimes ignorance is so much better, but the bigger part of her mind and her heart knew that both the Cancer Saint and the Ophiucus one deserved whatever small chance at happiness they were going to have. Helena only hoped that Manigoldo wouldn't make a mess of it.

"Anyway…as I was saying the Snake Master offered me another chance at finding my brother and reuniting myself with him and I, with all the idiocy of a six years old girl, accepted the bargain. A bargain which I had started to regret having made when our two souls joined and I was put through the most excruciating pain I had ever felt in my entire life. But, as many pains are wont to do, it passed almost as quickly as it had come and it was in that very second that I realized that Heleiana Takashi had really died on that night. It was also the very first night I saw all the Gold Cloths together and, even if I didn't know it then, it was going to be the last for a very, very long time."

Truth to be told, actually, she still hadn't see them all together except for a very brief moment after the death of her brothers in Elysium, when all the Cloths had come to pay her their respects and offer her their condolences. It had been the first time she had seen a willing Cancer Cloth standing with the others, one arm discreetly draped around Lover's shoulders. If she managed to have her way, things would change in the very next few minutes.

"As for the end of my story, well there is little more to tell: after changing me, Ophiucus and Cancer left with nary a word towards me, Saga found me the very next day and brought me back to Sanctuary, Arles thought to have had a great idea in having me trained for the Ophiucus Cloth, as if I could be anything but, and well…the rest you know it! I admit it had been very shocking to see that what I had thought to be _imaginary_ friends, were actual armours worn by actual people! I was very surprised the day I found out! I think you thought me mad!"

The amused half chuckle coming from her back told her that, Death Mask at the very least, had thought her more than bonkers.

"I don't really think you any less mad now that you have explained your story, brat!"

Well, at least Mask didn't seem very angry at her, if the name calling had started anew. If there was one thing about Death Mask that Helena had discovered very early in her life, it was that he did everything _backwards_. He yelled when paying a compliment and went scarily quiet when he was really mad.

"Baby sister?"

Milo's hand had shot upwards, like a young child in school, his voice hesitant.

"Yes Milo?"

"You still haven't answered Dite's question: where is he? Or better, where are _they_?"

Fair question, she knew, but one bearing difficult answers. Especially regarding the Cancer Cloth.

The Snake Master had briefly hovered next to her shoulder, exchanging one quick nod with her, before manifesting himself fully to a room full of people, and his friends, in probably the first time since myth. The surprised gasps of her brothers were soon covered by the positive squeals of glee that the three female cloths had released before jumping the poor man.

Smiling warmly and staunchly ignoring the pleading eyes her cloth was giving her – she wasn't going to rescue him, and he deserved whatever the others saw fit to give him, and she wasn't going to interfere in their business thank you very much! – Helena returned her attention to Milo and the others, trying to find a way to explain the moody Cancer Cloth.

"His name is Death Bringer, or at least it's how he introduced himself to me, and I thought it fitting. As you are well aware almost all Cancer Saints take on monikers that include death, I'm guessing to frighten people…anyway, he has never been fond of being seen, much like the Master, so I have been very lucky to have seen him a handful of times, nothing like Ace or the others, but I might know what it needs to be done to bring him here. After all, there's still something I need to tell you, and he needs to hear it as well!"

Helena wasn't sure about what she was about to do, regardless of what Mask, Dite and the others thought she wasn't exactly suicidal, but in all the time she had known him, Bringer had only come when she had been in mortal danger, closer to the realm of the dead than anyone wanted her to be. She hadn't mentioned it to her brothers and the other cloths, knowing that Cancer would prefer it to be a secret if he knew she knew, but the day she had almost drowned in that frozen pond, she had met him. The light she had seen hadn't been from the sun, no it had been his last effort to protect her with his souls. Completely ineffective, but very sweet! After that she had recognized a pattern: he would protect her by stalling the icy hands of death, until somebody else could rescue her properly. And that was how she knew that simply calling him wasn't going to suffice.

Rising to her feet she cast a hard look at her family, especially at Mask and Dite.

"I want you to promise me you _will not_ interfere in what I am about to do! I haven't gone mad and you need to trust me on this! Are we clear?"

Helena could see how her two Guardians struggled with the promise but, in the end, they caved and their voices joined the others.

At that Helena moved towards the most open part of the garden, retrieving something from a cloth bundle she had discreetly ordered a servant to bring in, fearing she might need it.

Turning towards the assembled people in front of her while fiddling with said object, she heard their horrified shouts when they realized what she had in her hands.

Because even though very different from the ones they were used to, what she was holding was unmistakably a pistol.

After charging it with a lead ball and enough gunpowder to probably explode a castle Helena closed her eyes and lifted the pistol under her chin. A trembling thumb moved to cock the gun while a trembling index slid towards the trigger. She knew she was taking a very _huge_ risk, after all if the bullet struck true not even Sara's extensive powers could keep her alive.

Hoping she wasn't really going to say goodbye to her life in such an idiotic manner, Helena slowly caressed the trigger with every intention to pull it.

Intention that, luckily remained just that and never converted into an action, when she was forcibly tackled to the ground, the gun unceremoniously yanked out of her hand and thrown away. Before she even had the time to inhale some air she felt rough hands pulling her up by the lapels of her coat, shaking her like a rag doll, all the while spitting insults and curses like a volcano in activity.

After what felt like an eternity of shaking and cursing her the person in front of her stopped his ranting and Helena was finally able to open her eyes. Vision fuzzy due to the harsh treatment she had undergone – one Cancer would vehemently state she deserved – it took her awhile to focus on the incensed man in front of her. But when she did lock her eyes into in bottomless pits of infernal fires, she gave him her most blinding smile and chirped her most charming hello, seconds before he bodily launched her into the wall.

"There was no need to be this _rude_, Bringer! I had every faith that you wouldn't have let me come to harm!"

The raving man in front of her still hadn't looked at her far too preoccupied to spew curses and insults at her persona, and Helena knew she needed to give him an extra push if she wanted his full attention.

"After all, you wouldn't let any harm befall onto the chosen host of your beloved _brother_, right?"

The abrupt silence that followed her last statement told her she had his attention now, as well as all the others'. The Snake Master was looking at her like she had suddenly sprouted another head and Lover was frantically trying to rip her hair out.

"How do you _know_ this?"

The deceptively calm and quiet voice of the Cancer Cloth left her with shivers down her back. And not of the good kind.

In that moment she knew why she had had these ominous feelings during all of her story but it became also clear that she had to tell them the story, regardless of what happened to her.

No sooner she had thought that, that a crippling pain shot through her middle, and with an inhuman cry she crashed on her knees before the world went mercifully black.


	34. I Dodici Cavalieri d'Oro

Not again! It simply could not be happening again! Aphrodite had been very well aware of the fact that he and Death Mask had done an abysmal job as Guardians, but the fact that, in the space of six months, their charge had been kidnapped, almost killed by an enemy first and by themselves later, and now she had just collapsed without any previous hint at anything being even remotely wrong – well more wrong than the wounds they had inflicted on her – didn't speak well for their ability to keep her safe. The Pisces Saint had a very good suspicion that Helena had suffered less damage when they were dead. Somehow their Cloths had done a better job in protecting her than he or Mask had ever done. And wasn't that dejecting!

At this point Aphrodite just wanted to take Helena with him and abscond her in the furthest possible place he could think out, very far away from any possible danger, and then spending the rest of his however long pathetic life trying to make up to her for what he hadn't been able to do. And if he was reading his boyfriend correctly he assumed that Mask was thinking something along the same lines.

But before doing that, Aphrodite needed to reach Helena and reassure himself that she was still alive.

Another point in his disfavour, he thought dejectedly, was that neither he nor Mask had been the ones to catch Helena when she had started to fall. No, they had remained seated while she pointed a gun at her face, too stunned to even think to move. And when she had started screaming they had stayed seated, mouth pathetically hanging open, trying to figure out what exactly had happened, and when things had started going wrong.

A small consolation came from the fact that Aphrodite hadn't been the only one too stunned to do anything as all the other Gold Saints had inexplicably suffered from the same paralysis. But the Pisces Saint knew it would have hurt less if his sister had been caught by one of their shield brothers; instead it had been the twins bound to the Gemini Cloth who had quickly covered the distance separating them from her and had barely managed to break Helena's fall towards the hard ground.

And now they were cradling her still form like she was some kind of precious and fragile china, all the other cloths huddled around them, almost shielding Helena from the world. Aphrodite couldn't take it any more! He was her Guardian, dammit! And he wasn't going to sit on his sorry ass one second more! Quickly getting up, and ignoring the vacant stares the others gave him, he approached the huddled group of people standing between him and his target. He hoped they would let him through peacefully, but he was determined to fight against all of them if they even thought of keeping him from Helena.

"There is no need to fight, beloved child! We'll let you through!"

Aphrodite realized belatedly that it had been the very first time the Pisces Cloth had spoken to him, and he would have loved to mark the occasion with something special, even continue their chat, but in that very moment he had more important things to take care of. Seemingly reading his thoughts – which was probably exactly what she had done, Dite realized a moment later – Lover smiled at him, her eyes silently promising him a chat at a later time, and proceeded to move herself out of the way, signalling the other Cloths to do so as well. Albeit very reluctantly, the others moved out of the way – Cancer had to be dragged away by Lover who had his ear in a strangling pinch – and when the twins deposited Helena's body into his waiting arms, Aphrodite felt his heart crack at the sight.

Dite had always known that Helena was very skinny, but in that very moment he realized that she had lost far more weight than she had to spare and that, regardless of what she had told them, the wounds they had inflicted, along with the ones she had already collected, weren't still properly healed. Moreover, whatever had happened just moments ago, must have been pretty painful if her twisted face was any indication.

Aphrodite felt more than saw Death Mask approaching, white cloak in his trembling hands – the only part of him that betrayed any kind of reaction towards what had happened to Helena – which he then proceeded to wrap around the small body of their sister.

"What happened to her, Mask?"

"I don't know, Dite. But when I find out the bastard who did this to her, believe you me, he will beg for death's sweet release."

Oh, Aphrodite had no problem at all believing what his boyfriend had just told him. Death Mask, for all his bad jokes about dying, never promised a death he wasn't going to carry out.

"No, it can't be…"

Curious as to why she would sound so hopeless and scared, Aphrodite and Death Mask turned around to face the others, who had circled the Goddess as soon as those words had left her mouth.

"Anything you wanna share with the class, Milady?"

"Death Mask! There is no need to be this rude with the Goddess! You know better that to behave like this!"

"No! Leave him be Saga! He is right! I do have something to tell you, and I really hope it isn't true!"

Puzzled by the cryptic words of his Goddess, Aphrodite didn't realize anything was different until he heard her voice.

"It's true Athena! The curse is activating. My storytelling triggered the failsafe and now it wants what it has been promised. The life of the betrayer. My life!"

"Helena!"

"Lena!"

"Do you always have to be this _melodramatic_?"

Sarcasm. If there was one thing all the Cancer Saints had in common – Helena suspected it was exactly that trait that Bringer wanted in his hosts – it was a cutting sarcasm. Helena was also very sure it was more of a defence mechanism than anything else, but of course none of them had actually answered her questions.

But be as it may be, in that very moment Manigoldo's clearly sarcastic voice anchored her more than anything else.

Wallowing in a world of pity had never been her dream and Helena gratefully took the opportunity the other Saint had gifted her, silently thanking him with her eyes. A curt nod told her he had understood and then his attention drifted back to whatever else he had been doing – Helena suspected ogling Albafica's rear – looking like she wasn't worth of his attention.

"To take off a little of the melodrama, as Manigoldo has so kindly pointed out, this story is very ancient, it actually stems from the time of Myth, and it has really been forbidden to speak about it, under threat of death. Or better, this story has been cursed in order to have it forgotten."

"Then we don't need to hear it, Helena! If we have managed to survive without it until now, I am perfectly sure we can keep going on for a while more…"

Trust Milo to propose that solution, even though it looked like the others weren't entirely disagreeing with his proposal. And rather vehemently at it.

"Enough boys! I knew the risks before I started, even though I really didn't want to believe it would go this far…but I stand by my decision! You need, really need to hear this story, first and foremost because the one who wanted this story gone is the same enemy we are facing now, and this is the story of her battle against Athena and the very first Twelve Gold Saints. I probably should mention that our enemy is none other than Eris, the Goddess of Discord, and that this story narrates what happened in the age of Myths, were Gods roamed freely the earth and Ophiucus wasn't yet the Fallen."

The story of Ophiucus, that's what that particular tale was. How he had gone from being the Healer, to being the Fallen.

"Now please, pay attention because what I am about to tell you has long been forgotten, by the Cloths more than by anybody else."

The Cloths were trying, and spectacularly failing, to be inconspicuous in hovering next to Helena, trying not to let it show how much their ignorance on the matter bothered them. Helena wasn't fooled at all by their nonchalant attitude, having understood a long time before that the not remembering anything of their pasts had bothered her friends more than they had ever let on.

"All stories start with 'Once upon a time' and it's a good starting point as anything else. So once upon a time there were two brothers living in a village on the sunny coast of Greece. The older of the two was a healer, the younger a baker…"

The sudden coughing fit Death Bringer seemed to have been subject to made Helena smile. That Ophiucus had been a healer in his past life, before become a cloth, didn't surprise anybody, but the idea of the moody and deadly Cancer Saint getting up at the crack of dawn to _bake_ loaves of bread and sweet rolls, was something nobody had been truly prepared for, least of all Bringer himself.

"I really wish I could tell you that I lied about not knowing their names, but unfortunately they did give them up when they became cloths, so I am just going to refer to them as I have always called them. So, as you all have already guessed I am really talking about the Snake Master and Death Bringer…"

The suspicious coughing fit that Milo had suddenly developed – one that had required the help of both Camus and a very bemused Shura – hadn't gone unnoticed by Death Bringer, who had started moving towards the Scorpion Saint, murder clear in his black eyes.

"Anyway…the two of them lived together in the little village, where Master had a small medical practice and Bringer was loved by all, but no one loved him more than the young daughter of the town blacksmith, a small creature with long hair the colour of wheat and sky blue eyes that could read into your very soul. She was shy, so shy that her father had built her a rose garden where she could shelter herself when the pressure of the world became too much. Soon her rose garden became known as the most beautiful thing in the area and the young woman started to receive many a marriage proposal. But she turned them all down for she didn't want any of the men who thought she was just a beautiful prize to win. But one day the young beauty met the lonely baker and, as most stories go, it was _hate_ at first sight. He was rude and crass and he managed to insult her with his first words to her. She thought she hated him, not realizing that he had been the first man she had ever held a full conversation with; he thought he hated her even though she had been the first woman he had ever wanted to see again. They would have remained two oblivious idiots if not for the baker's brother. He arranged casual meetings between the two, coincidental trips toward the same place, daily delivery of both roses and bread. And after some time the two realized they were in love and did what most couples do: he went to her father to ask for her hand in marriage and six months later they were proclaimed husband and wife. As a wedding present he had built her another rose garden, this time much grander than the one her father had built, complete with a particular rose, a white rose, one he had scavenged the land to find. He claimed that it had spawned from Hell itself given the dangers he had to undertake to find it, and Lover called the new bud 'Royal Demon Rose' in honour of this."  
Pausing to catch her breath, which had become dangerously shallow, Helena couldn't help but sneak a glance at Lover and Bringer, the latter looking at the former like she was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him. Moving her gaze towards Albafica and Aphrodite, Helena wasn't surprised when she caught them staring at a white rose in their hands. Dite's soft smile and, behind him, Mask's loving eyes, gave Helena hope that, whatever happened, at least her two favourite brothers would always have each other.

"Life in the small village continued in its peaceful boring way for some months after the happy event, but one day two weary travellers happened upon the town square. Two men, one with long green hair and gentle green eyes, and a shorter man with strangely shaped eyes. The taller one said he was a fixer, the last of his people and he had been running for his life a long time before meeting the other man, who had been running as well, from a past he refused to mention to anybody. The Master welcomed them in the village, healed their wounds and offered them a place to stay. Lynn had wanted to go as soon as humanly possible, but Fix had instantaneously loved the quaint little village and begged the other to stay for a while. They never did leave, mingling so seamlessly into the fabric of the town that after a while nobody knew, or cared, they hadn't been born there. The five of them became very good friends, and soon became inseparable. Peace seemed to last forever, but as it frequently happens, things do not tend to stay peaceful long. A war happened, one with such strange phenomena that the people didn't know what to do. The sea, which had been their friend for so long, giving them fish and shells, and other things, turned against them. The skies blackened and storms wrecked the little village. I am sure you understood that I am talking about the fist Sacred War: Poseidon had struck the first hit towards humanity. That was very first time Athena intervened to protect the humans. She, in her mythological body, stood tall and proud in front of Poseidon and, with the help of five warriors she kept him at bay and saved the village. The battle didn't last very long. With no warriors on Poseidon's side, Athena quickly overpowered him winning the first war and sealing his soul for the first time. Nothing more would have happened and Athena and her warriors would have moved away from the little village, if one of the warriors had not been gravely injured and had collapsed on the spot. He was a young man with short black hair and a pretty intimidating sword. The Snake Master volunteered his expertise to Athena and soon enough Cal was bandaged so tightly that he spent the next few days complaining loudly about not being able to breath. In those days Athena talked to the Master, Bringer and Lover and she even met Fix and Lynn. She told them about her mission, to protect humanity from the other gods. She told them she was journeying the world trying to find warriors to fight with her against evil. She had already found five: Cal, whom she had found a couple of years prior almost dead in a ditch in Spain, his homeland. He had been beaten within an inch of life by an abusing step-father. She had found him, healed him and gave him a purpose and the young man worshipped the ground she walked on. Teach, a smart young girl with and insatiable curiosity and big eyes eager to see the entire world. She had followed Athena and Cal out of curiosity and an insatiable desire of seeing the true justice Athena was offering. Cook, a huge giant with a golden heart and a strong wish for a better world. Kaiser and Tox, two brothers, one proud and loyal the other gentle and kind, who Athena had saved from a narrow-minded town where Tox had been condemned to death for an act of kindness and Kaiser had decided to follow him, out of loyalty. Athena asked the Master and the others if they wanted to join them in their fight. Bringer didn't need to be told twice for he had longed for a different life for a long time. Not willing to be left behind Lover, the shy girl with a spine of iron, decided to follow him. Fix and Lynn accepted without questions, both trying to find closure for their hunted pasts. The Snake Master, unsurprisingly, took a longer time to convince. He was a healer, and healers usually don't go into battles no matter how just they are. But he loved his brother and his sister-in-law and he couldn't bear the thought of any of them hurt or sick without him there, so he joined the fight stating Athena desperately needed a healer. I think you are all familiar with how the myth goes and you know that, after winning her first battle against Poseidon, and thus freeing the people, Athena had gained the right to rule over the Attic region. And so she decided to found a city, which the people of the land called Athens in her honour, and she established her Sanctuary there. The Goddess knew wars between gods and humanity had just started and she was well aware that she needed more soldiers. She also needed a ranking system for them. Strangely enough it was the Master who came up with the perfect system: he had overheard the others talking about their birthdays and had realized that they were all from different zodiac signs. And so he proposed to the Goddess the actual zodiac system. Thirteen warriors for thirteen zodiac signs to protect Athena and be her elite guard, and seventy-five other constellations to form her personal army. As you can easily guess Athena loved the system and so the ten warriors became the ten zodiac signs they represented and they set out the world to find their missing companions…"

Stopping her story for a chance to catch her breath Helena took the time to survey the room and its inhabitants.

Still haunted by the very real possibility of her impending doom, Aphrodite had yet to loosen his grip onto her, forcing her body into a very uncomfortable chocking position, but Helena didn't have the heart to tell him to loosen it up a bit.

Next to him Death Mask's vacant stare had Helena a bit worried about her brother's thinning sanity. She really hoped she could overcome the dire consequences of telling the story, fearing for her brothers' hearts if she didn't.

"Anyhow…the next one they found was Ice, a nobleman's beautiful daughter who they had managed to save from being brutally slaughtered like the rest of her wedding party, including her young new husband."

Voice trailing into silence, Helena surreptitiously looked at the young woman representing the Aquarius Cloth, not liking what she was seeing. Ice had her head down, long bangs shielding her face from prying eyes, but the tremor in her shoulders betrayed the fact that she was sobbing. Ace had started to approach her, but a fresh onslaught of sobs had him aborting his mission. Helena could see that her story had triggered their memories, and that the thin veil of lies that had protected them was being brutally ripped by her words.

Starting to rise up to approach the distraught girl in front of her, Helena was suddenly stopped by her own Cloth who the proceeded to get closer to Ice and the wrap her in a bear hug.

At the sudden, unexpected and warm contact the icy exterior of the girl crumbled completely and with a broken wail she abandoned herself in the arms of the Snake Master, all the while said man kept hugging her, whispering soothing words in her ear.

After a while Ice's sobs gradually started to stop and she was finally able to look her fellow Saint in the eye.

The silent exchange that followed had the room bursting with curiosity, but the small smile that had graced Ice's still pinched features had them all somewhat relaxing, Ace most of all. If the Master had been able to coax a smile from the usually frosty Saint, even more so after the frightening display of her tears, the Scorpion Cloth figured he could live without sating his curiosity. Athena knew he had been rubbish in consoling her when they were all still alive.

After receiving a curt nod signalling Ice's permission to continue, Helena resumed her story, knowing that whatever heartbreak she had already delivered was nothing compared to what was about to come.

"As Fate would have it, it was the icy widow who found the inveterate gamble. Legend has it that she beat him at his own game, leaving him stunned and breathless and craving for more of that quite fire he had seen in her eyes. Whatever the reason Ace, who until that very moment had been relentlessly escaping what he called the _stifling bonds_ of camaraderie and friendship, willingly decided to serve Athena in her cause for justice. You don't need me to tell you that Ace's debonair personality, didn't really blend well with all the others, and his propensity for flirting with any and every beautiful woman in his vicinity didn't do much to endear him to the jealous Bringer, who had, more than once, caught the unrepentant gambler openly ogling his wife…"

"So that's why Death Mask doesn't like me!"

And leave it to Milo to naively drudge up one of the best kept secrets of all Sanctuary! Feeling Dite stiffen at her back and Mask's low growling at her immediate right, she tried to plead with her eyes to the childish Scorpion Saint to just drop the subject, but his eagerly curious gaze told her she wasn't going to have much luck in that department.

Sighing heavily Helena exchanged a quick look at both her Guardians, and at their slights nods, she decided to open a small parenthesis that had basically nothing to do with her current narration.

"No, Milo…this is not the reason why Mask loathes you. Do you remember what happened thirteen years ago? The day in which you and Aioria decided to prank me?"

She could see him struggling to find the right memory, after all the troublesome duo had pranked her more times that she could count in those early days, some pranks being more cruel than others.

The slight widening of their eyes told Helena they were remembering the prank, but they still hadn't understood why she was bringing that up now.

"Ok, short recap for those of you who haven't got the slightest idea about what I am talking about. When I first came to Sanctuary none of you really liked me, and the fact that the Pope had forcibly put me under the tutelage of Death Mask and Aphrodite didn't really help matters…"

She saw Saga spasmodically clench and unclench his fists, but other than offer him her best smile, there was not much she could do to assuage his guilt. She had forgiven him long ago, but she was very aware that the road of recovery was something only Saga himself could walk.

"I had been staying in Sanctuary for over a year when it happened. While more or less all the Gold Saints had come to terms with my presence in Sanctuary, Milo and Aioria were still unsure about me. They were the youngest and, to this day, I really think they didn't mean any harm. Anyhow, one spring day they decided to bring the prank war they had waged on me up a notch. To make a long story short, they tricked Mask into opening the Yomotsou Hirasaka and, while Ria distracted him, Milo pushed me inside…"

The placid faces her brothers were still sporting told Helena they hadn't really understood the problem. After all they had seen her going in and out the Yomotsou for years. Nonetheless she was sure that her next words would prove most enlightening for them all.

"You need to take into consideration a couple of things in this scenario: one, I was eight at that time; two, my experience with Mask's powers at that time were practically non-existent, given the fact that I had been to Hell only once and with the strict supervision of Cancer; three, Death Mask and Aphrodite at that time were only my caretakers, not my Guardians, so no bonds between us…"

The sharp sound of cracked pottery had Helena look around the room trying to pinpoint which of the men in front of her had suddenly lost control. She was half expecting to find Dohko, or Aldebaran, or even Camus or Shura, but her eyes widened slightly when she took stock of the semi-drenched form of none other than Aioros of Sagitter.

Her surprise doubled when he slowly rose to his feet and the proceeded to punch the living daylights out of both his little brother and the young Scorpio.

"Brother?"

"YOU CRETINS! YOU IMBECILIC MORONS! WHAT DO YOU HAVE INSTEAD OF BRAINS? SAND? HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO STUPID!"

The shocked silence that followed the uncharacteristic outburst was suddenly broken by a loud guffaw coming from Helena's right side. There, sprawled on the floor, Death Mask was laughing like they had never seen before.

At the, frankly hilarious, spectacle in front of their eyes, soon also Helena and Aphrodite joined in the fun.

"Oh by Athena, Sagitter! Apparently I have always underestimated you! My, my…who would have thought that the most chivalrous Saint of all could throw a punch like that!"

Aioros' murderous gaze shifted from his brother to the still laughing Cancer Saint, but after a couple of seconds he let his killer aura subside and a small chuckle escaped his pursed lips.

"That'll teach you not to underestimate me again Death Mask! But, aside that…"

Slightly pausing in his speech the golden hero moved to stand in front of the still seated Helena and, to the collective shock, he kneeled in front of her, in full supplicant position, and proceeded to utter his heartfelt apology.

"…I am very sorry Helena dear! I thought I had taught my brother better than that! I know my apology comes thirteen years too late, but I am hoping you will allow me to make amends. As for you, Aphrodite and Death Mask, I apologize to you too for all the times I rebuked you concerning your relationships with Aioria and Milo. If it happened what I think happened, then you have done an admirable job in restraining yourselves during all these years!"

Helena could tell that Aioros' words had shocked her Guardians to the very core: they had been rebuked more than once for the sour attitude they had towards the Leo and the Scorpio Saints, but the Sagittarius' apology went a long way in fixing the damage inflicted. The young girl could also see that his brother's words had cut deeply in Aioria's soul and taking a deep breath she hurried in finishing her story lest the impulsive lion created more damages that they already had.

"Aioria, Milo, listen to me and listen good. I know you still don't understand what you have done, but let me finish and you will see it. You see, as I already told you, when you pushed me into the Yomotsou, I wasn't linked to my Guardians. That being said it means that, once Mask had closed the Mouth of Hell, with me inside, he didn't know I was wondering Hell. Without a link Mask and Dite didn't discover my absence until the following morning. That night I was supposed to sleep at the First House and for this reason they didn't worry when I didn't check in. Mu had thought I had skipped lesson and so he never thought to check in with Mask or Dite. All of this meant that the eight-year old me, wondered Hell for almost twenty-four hours without supervision. I will skip the part where Mask and Dite finally realized that I was missing and where exactly I ended up because, frankly, it is none of your business!"

She wasn't about to make her beloved brothers relieve the nightmare they had lived through when they had finally realized she had spent almost a full day in Hell. She didn't think Mask had been as frightened about her latest disappearance as he had been that day.

About to begin the story anew she was beaten to the punch when Mask raspy voice took over her role as narrator.

"When it finally clicked in my brain what had happened, what you had done, it froze the blood in my veins. Hell isn't a kind environment for those who cannot withstand it. It's downright deadly for someone without the proper training. It took us five extra hours to pinpoint the exact location of her whereabouts and when we finally found her…well I don't think I will ever forget that sight!"

With a shuddering breath Death Mask grew quiet in his recollection and Aphrodite decided to take over the narration, hoping to spare his boyfriend the worst of the nightmares.

"She was kneeling on the floor, in a puddle of her own blood, tiny arms shielding her face, all the while whimpering pitifully for somebody to save her. At her back one of the mountains of the Yomotsou, in front of her four of the ugliest beasts I had ever seen. Skinny, rabid and feral they were the underdogs of Hell. You probably know them as the _soul eaters_, since their only purpose is to eat whatever unfortunate soul strays from the path. You can imagine their frenzy when they had found a _living_ person in their midst. They had bitten, slashed and clawed her tiny body and were then ready for the final kill…"

Taking over the narration once again Helena resumed the story.

"I knew I was about to die. Nobody had come for me until that moment, and I despaired anyone would really come. After all I was a scrawny brat, an unwanted burden. Ready to die I opened my eyes to look at the beasts in front of me one last time. But what I saw was something else entirely: an angel had come for me, gold armour shining in the near darkness, long hair billowing in the breeze, kind eyes sweeping over me, conveying such a warmth like I had never experienced before; warmth that enveloped me when he scooped me up in his arms, shielding me from the beasts' attack. I remember telling him to go away, to leave me there to die, that those beasts weren't going to budge and I didn't want him killed on my account. He smiled at me then and slightly chuckling he told me not to worry, that now that they were there everything was going to be all right. I frowned at the plural: who was the other one? Turning slightly at the sound of chocking I was met with an otherworldly sight. If my first saviour had been someone from a dream, an angel bathed in light, the second one looked more like a devil from the worst nightmare. Growling like the beasts in front of us, the second man proceeded to _destroy_ the foul dogs in front of us. When he finished with the carnage, I remember him fixing his bloody red eyes in mine and what I saw in them left me breathless. He looked like a devil, but his eyes were warm like the ones of my other saviour. Before any of us could really say anything we were all bathed in a warm golden light. I heard the voice of my Cloth for the first time since that fateful night. He told me he was assigning me my Guardians. When he told me their names I finally realized that those names weren't the ones of the two people who had come to my rescue. I argued, he ignored me, I screamed, he growled, I hissed, he retaliated. It was the first time I fully used my Cosmo. Unleashing it against my Cloth I forced him to make a different choice. I really had no idea if I had succeeded in my endeavours, but when the light finally died down and I looked at the two symbols carved on my forearms I couldn't help but smile in victory. I am pretty sure Master still hasn't forgiven me for that stunt, but for me it was, and still is, the best choice. If I really had to have two Guardians, why not the only two people who had really given shit about where I had gone? Why not the people who had come to my rescue even if they weren't forced to? My personal angel and demon. I had chosen them and they had chosen me, and I wasn't going to change my mind. After that the events of the previous twenty-four hours finally caught up with me and unconsciousness claimed me. I woke up, one week later, in my room in the Cancer Temple, with Aphrodite sprawled on the floor next to my bed, and Mask snoring softly in a beaten up armchair in the corner. Knowing they were near I went back to sleep, secure in the knowledge that I had finally found a family again."

It was most unfortunate, Helena thought to herself, that she had become so accustomed to the horrified silence that seemed to have befallen her rag-tag family once again. Predictably the most horror struck were Aioria and Milo, who had apparently understood at last what had really happened on that day. Since neither the Guardians nor the young girl had ever divulged the full story, all the others had thought nothing of the prank and the subsequent disappearance of the girl for one week, even berating her for skipping invaluable lessons.

Sighing to herself Helena spoke again in order to quell everybody's anxiety and avoid the chaos she was sure to come if she let Milo and Aioria speak for themselves.

"I did not tell you this story to make you feel guilty nor to hear your apologies and excuses. Milo asked me something and I answered. I am aware that what I told you needs time to heal and proper words and gestures, but now is not the time. I am begging you to let this go for the moment. There will be time enough for discussions, apologies, punishments and regrets, but that will come _after_ we had defeated our enemy here and now! So please, don't dwell on it and pull yourself together for now, is that clear?"

She could see that her brothers, with the notable exceptions of her Guardians, wanted to argue with her on the matter, but one sharp order barked by Saga had the commotion die down as quickly as it had started.

At Saga's curt nod in her direction she burrowed herself in between her Guardians and once more she resumed her story.


	35. Finalmente la verità

"As I was saying, Ice was the one to find Ace and bring him back to Sanctuary, and with the unrepentant gambler the elite warriors of Athena realized that they were only missing one zodiac sign to be complete; Gemini. In a stroke of pure dumb luck the Gemini warrior came to them on one clear spring night. The only problem? There were two of them…"

The barely controlled laughter that had burst forth the usual very uptight Ophiucus Saint had all the other Cloths laughing their lungs off in the space of ten seconds. Some of them, like Ace and Lynn were even rolling on the floor, their mirth so evident that tears were leaking from their eyes. All of it under the unimpressed scowls adorning the identical faces of the two Gemini twins.

Sensing the burning curiosity coming from their latest incarnations, Bringer took a steading breath in order to stop laughing and briefly brought up to speed everyone in the room on the shenanigans the two young twins had created while in Sanctuary.

For all who had eyes to see, it was very obvious that all the older Cloths loved and cherished the two youngest members of their group, and that they were equally beloved by them in return. At the scene unfolding in front of him, Saga couldn't help by smile softly, remembering a time in which those interactions had been the norm for him and his brothers as well, even though in this life he was the oldest of them.

"The second sacred war, the one against Apollo, brought to light a serious problem for the peace loving Goddess: weapons. Swords, spears, bows and arrows, everything and anything that could have passed as a weapon was used in the battles between the enemies' armies. And while the war against Poseidon had been more or less bloodless, with the notable exception of Cal's injuries, the war against Apollo ended with a narrow victory on Athena's part, and a body count as high as Olympus. The simple soldiers of the lesser constellations were the ones who had suffered the worst losses, but injury hadn't spared even the elite guard. Lover had been speared in the gut and Dee had had his back slashed open by a sword and the full count of everybody's injuries kept the Snake Master busy for more than a week. It was in that very moment, while changing the bandages on Dee's wound while begging him not to die, that Athena vowed never to let her soldiers use another weapon. Knowing full well that she needed to give her warriors a solid chance to fight and protect themselves, the Goddess of justice shut herself up in her temple for a fortnight. When she finally re-emerged, much to the collective relief of the zodiac warriors, she presented them with a solution: she was going to teach them the use of the Cosmo, the powerful universe inside every living thing be it a mortal or a God. It took them the better part of a year, but they finally mastered the use of their senses up until the Seventh Sense. I wish I could tell you at this moment how every technique became linked to each Saint, but it's better if we take a rain check on this particular story. Knowing that the power of attack was nothing without the power of defence, Athena took Fix apart one night and commissioned him the thirteen golden cloths. And it was in the moment in which they donned their Cloths for the first time that Athena's Gold Saints were born."

Oh how she wished her story could end like this, maybe not the standard happily-ever-after but on a positive enough note. But Helena knew that hers was just wishful thinking and knowing that the more she dawdled the more it would hurt her, she barrelled back into the story, desperate to see it end.

"Seasons passed, friendship grew alongside love in some cases, familial bonds were tied and promises of unbreakable trust were uttered. After Apollo there had been a couple of other gods with mires on the humans, but the newly created Gold Saints had dealt with them fairly easily. Before you ask, Hades hadn't made a move on Earth at that time, too involved in his marital bliss with his new young bride to really bother with the domain on the humans. The situation was as peaceful as it was ever going to be, but unfortunately things weren't destined to stay like this forever for there was one Goddess who envied everything Athena had built: Eris. At that time Eris wasn't yet considered the Goddess of Discord for she had done nothing up to that point to warrant such a name. She had always admired Athena from afar hoping one day to be noticed by the Goddess of Justice and pursued as a friend. But as time passed and Athena's attention concentrated on the humans, in particular on her Saints, Eris grew despondent. Take into consideration that Eris had tried to be descend to earth, much like Athena had done, but had been completely unsuccessful in forming those deep bonds of friendship and camaraderie that were so characteristic of Athena's Saints. And so, when Athena rebuffed her offer of friendship on the sound basis that human slavery could never be an acceptable ground, Eris started to plan her revenge. She wanted the older Goddess to experience the sting of betrayal that she, Eris, had already experienced, and to do so Eris started to seed discord among Athena's ranks. At first she was unsuccessful, the Saints too closely knitted together to even think about betrayal, but soon enough something happened that gave the Goddess of Discord the opening she needed."

So far so good, thought Helena. The story was still at the beginning but, at the very least, the Cloths had spared them all any reaction for the moment. Not that Helena wasn't aware of the fact that that could change any minute, but she was going to enjoy the peace while it lasted. The only dissonant note in that choir was that her own Cloth had progressively grown more pissed by the minute and Helena knew that it was because his memories of the event had started resurfacing, clearer than everything. She was also aware that those memories were erasing those new, tentative, bonds of friendship that the Snake Master had been able to create and that all thoughts of forgiveness were soon going to flee the Ophiucus' mind, if they hadn't gone already. But Helena knew that recounting this story was the only way in which the Cloths could properly recreate what they had in the age of myth. Only by exposing the full truth, forgiveness could be well and truly asked for and granted.

"Following the forced separation from his beloved Persephone, Hades, in his foul mood, had thought to unleash his pent up frustrations on the unsuspecting humans, thus beginning the first war between him and Athena. Like a well-oiled machine the Saints had started to make the necessary preparations to fight this unknown enemy, but there was one person whose heart wasn't in it: the Snake Master. Given that he had never wanted to shed blood, even his enemies' blood, and that his decision to join forces with Athena had been somehow forced by his love for his brother and his wife, it wasn't a surprise when the Ophiucus Saint approached the Goddess to ask her to be spared from the war. But, unfortunately, Athena did not see fit to grant him his request, for he was one of her most skilled fighters and she couldn't afford to lose him on the eve of such an important battle. She did however promise him that the war against Hades was going to be the last he was going to fight, and that afterwards he could still serve her and Sanctuary as a healer. Smarting slightly at her refusal, Master chose to swallow the bitter pill and fight once more."

Eyes full of regret, the same regret that had filled those very same eyes after the unthinkable had happened. Even though Saori was physically different from Athena in the age of myth, the expression she was sporting was the same one Athena had on her face when she had finally realized what her refusal had caused. Moving slightly, Helena focused herself on the still form of Master, whose eyes were unfocused, likely lost in some past that only he could see, and that Helena was about to relate to them all. The young girl could see that her story had shattered the fragile bonds the Ophiucus Saint had managed to recreate with the others, and she worried that nothing was going to repair them again.

"At first things went about like business as usual, but one night one of the Bronze Saints told Athena and the Gold Saints one piece of information that was about to change the very future. Before telling you that, I need to present you one last character in this story. There was a village near the mountain of the Twelve Houses, and in this village lived a young girl of fourteen. She had shown a remarkable talent in the healing arts and she had soon become the unofficial apprentice of Ophiucus. The older healer loved her like a young sister and had high hopes for her future. In an effort to shield her from the bloody world of Athena's Saints, the Master had never introduced Elpida, that was her name, to the other Gold Saints, but the stories he had told her, had painted such a vivid picture of them, that Elpida knew them better that if she had been acquainted to them. The other Gold Saints had known of the girl, but nobody had realized the true extent of the Master's feelings for her. It was for this reason that, when the Bronze Saint told them that Hades' army was attacking that village destroying it and its inhabitants, no one thought twice about the young healer the Master had all but adopted. Knowing they were too late to offer any aid to the poor villagers Athena, to the Snake Master's horror, decided not to dispatch any of her Saints. Understanding that she was leaving them to be slaughtered, Ophiucus pleaded the case, trying, in vain, to convince the Goddess and the other Saints to send help to the village. But, unfortunately, much like she had been in her decision to keep the Master on the battlefield, Athena proved herself unmovable to any request of help for the villagers. And, to make matters worse, when Ophiucus told the other Saints about the young Elpida, Bringer simply pointed out that it was strategically unsound to sacrifice a warrior for a simple human girl and that casualties where part of a war. Horrified the Master fled the room, ignoring Athena's summons to come back, and ran towards the village under attack, hoping against all reasons that Elpida was still alive. And she was, even though barely, and this might have been the worst luck ever for Athena and her Saints. Because if young Elpida had died, than Ophiucus would have resigned himself, but as she lived, a shadow of her former self, the golden healer was reminded every day of the murderous sacrifice that Athena and his brothers had committed in the name of the greater good."

Horrified. There was no other way to describe the Cloths but that. Helena was sure that, in all her years next to them, she had seen every possible emotion flit through their faces, but such an unbridled horror and guilt was a first. The worst of them all was, understandably, Bringer whose careless words had been the first to break the trust that his brother had in them.

Helena supposed it was a good thing that the Cloths all reacted with horror at the news they had let a village die just to spare their lives: it showed they had changed in the centuries that had passed from the episode and that they had matured, but Helena could understand if the Master did not want to hear their apologies.

"Brother…"

"Cut it Cancer! I don't want to hear it!"

Recoiling like he had been punched in the guts, Bringer retired the hand he had extended towards his brother, understanding full well the hatred, but at the same time feeling hurt by it.

A small hand lightly touched his shoulder and he found himself looking into Helena's sympathetic and gentle face.

"Apologies later. The story isn't finished yet! I promise you, you will have your chance at begging for his forgiveness!"

"It isn't my forgiveness they should be begging for, girl!"

"They'll have a chance at that too…"

Slightly shocked by Helena's cryptic words, Bringer chose to seat back down with the others, choosing to trust the young bearer of his brother's Cloth on the matter.

Panting lightly from exertion – she was feeling like someone had her lungs in an iron grip and was slowly squeezing air from them – Helena decided to seat again, but this time she plopped down onto her own Cloth's lap, much to his surprise and her Guardians' dismay. Ignoring Aphrodite's slightly betrayed expression, Helena burrowed herself more into her Cloth's warmth, knowing that he was going to need her more than ever for the next leg of her story.

"It was at that time that Eris finally decided to make her move. In his vulnerable state, already feeling betrayed by his Goddess and his friends and family, the Snake Master proved an easy prey for the Goddess of Discord. It took nothing more than a whisper here and a little push there and the already shaken trust of the Snake Master crumbled like a sand castle. After the massacre at the village, Athena and her Saints finally retaliated and, even without Ophiucus who had categorically refused to fight again, Hades was defeated and his Spectres sealed.

But as one war ended, another had just begun: this was to be remembered as the first civil war inside Sanctuary, where brother fought against brother, and where once was love and trust only discord and hate remained. Under the ever-growing horror of the still bed-bound Elpida, tension escalated quickly between the Snake Master and the other Saints. Not a day passed where one side or the other stained itself with more and more blood. The Master's mutiny had started a revolution in Sanctuary, one that the other Gold Saints had been powerless to stop. Unbeknownst to any of them in that moment, that internal war was also the founding seed of the enmity between the twins chosen for the Gemini Cloth, for one twin had heartily embraced the cause of Athena, but the other had wavered towards the Ophiucus long enough that his loyalties were put to a test."

Stopping her story once more Helena risked a peek to the room, from behind the wall that the strong arms of her Cloth had created around her. She could feel him trembling from the effort of staying still while all of his pent up rage and hatred resurfaced once more. But, in that very moment, she was more interested in two other figures whose relationship she was afraid she had ruined completely with her recounting.

At her words Dee had all but adopted the deer-in-the-headlights expression and looked ready to bolt outside the small garden, fleeing from them at light speed. To Helena's utter relief, though, just before Dee decided to put into practice his idea, his own twin clamped his hand on his shoulder and effectively pinned him to the spot.

In the midst of all the chaos generated by every cloth trying to add his or her own to cents to the conversation, only one voice rang clear and loud in the entire garden.

"I will not let you go, brother! I have already made this mistake once, I will not repeat it again!"

Watching Dee deflating from the sheer relief that Dum's words had caused in him, Helena couldn't help but smile. Oh, she knew that those two weren't even remotely done with their talk – a talk that they had waited more than two millennia to have – but for the moment those words would tide them until they could properly talk and finally solve the devastatingly big issue that was the cloth of Gemini and the relationship between the two twin masters.

If everything went according to plan, Helena mused, Saga and Kanon could start training both the new Gemini twins together, like it was always supposed to have been.

But as she prepared to move onwards with her story, Helena stopped for one moment to think about what she needed to say and how she needed to say it. Everything she had told them up until that very moment could be easily found in any of the old scrolls in the Sanctuary's archives, the ones kept to recount the story of Athena's Saints. But the next part of her story had a more personal feeling, something resonating deep inside her soul. More than that, though, it was the fact that it was what she was about to tell them that had been banned, cursed to be forgotten.

"Anyway, as I was saying, a civil war had erupted between Athena's ranks and, if nothing was going to be done to resolve it, it wasn't going to be long before something irreparable took place. In order to avoid the irreparable, Elpida had decided to stop being a simple spectator to the bloody show, and start becoming an active participant. Being closely linked to the Master she had started from him, trying vainly to persuade him to lay down his weapons and to try and solve the situation diplomatically. She, of course, perfectly understood the reasons why the Master was so pissed with Athena and the others – how could she not, when she had been the one to suffer the consequences of their actions more than anybody else – but she also knew that nothing good could ever come from war and conflict. But, in the end, every effort she put into making the Master see her way, was for naught. And so, when she overheard him talking about assassinations and Athena, and revenge on the other Gold Saints, she knew she had to do something drastic, something she would have never considered under any other circumstance: she organized a meeting with Bringer and the other Gold Saints, in secret and without telling the Snake Master."

The snort of derision from behind her cut her deeply, alongside the scornful words that the Snake Master had addressed to the deceased Elpida.

"I always knew she was too good to be true…that baby face was nothing more than a ruse, a way for her to get into my good graces and then betray me at the first possible moment! I should have never trusted her!"

Helena knew that what she had in mind was crazy, possibly very dangerous, and definitely very stupid and completely futile, but that didn't stop her from slowly getting up from her position in her Cloth's lap and deliberately punch him square in the jaw. Due to the fact that she had used part of her Cosmo to materialize the Cloths so that everybody could see them, this time around her personal idiot was not only visible to her, but also very corporeal. That meant that the punch she threw had the satisfying effect of cracking the jaw of said beloved idiot who suddenly found himself on the floor, nursing his wounded pride more than his broken bones.

"What the fuck did you do that for, Helena?"

"Stop painting the world with the colours of your own despair, Master! Not everybody out there wants your head! Not now and especially not then! Stop trying to make the world a worse place than it is! Yes, Athena didn't give you what you had righteously asked for; yes, Bringer condemned an innocent you cared about with his careless words; yes, nobody really wanted to admit they were wrong and you were right! But this doesn't give you any right to think that nobody loved you, and that everyone betrayed you!"

Out of breath at the end of her tirade, Helena became suddenly conscious that everybody in the room had stopped _breathing_, eyes wide with fear and fixed on the man in front of her.

Man who suddenly stood up, and faster than her eyes could comprehend – a rare feet indeed since she had been trained to follow light speed movements since she was eight – pinned her to the run down wall of the garden, holding her up in the air by the lapels of her coat. Even though he hadn't decided to strangle her – even in his incensed state he still refused to do so, which spoke volumes about his moral integrity – Helena couldn't stop the small shiver of fear that crawled up her spine. In all her years in Sanctuary she had had more than her share of experiences with murderous glares – Death Mask still glared at her every time she woke him before his customary hour which was three o'clock in the afternoon – but somehow it was the fact that it was her Cloth that made it all the more scary.

"What do you know, girl? What do you know about despair? About betrayal? You think your pathetic life experiences make you a worthy judge of my life? You think that what they did to you will ever compare to what I went through? You know _nothing_! Do you hear me? _Nothing!_ So don't get all patronizing on me, girl! When you will have experienced what I did, we might talk again, not a moment sooner!"

Death Mask had never been a good student, the poor soul of his own master could attest that trying to teach him anything was worse than trying to grow something in concrete. But there was one thing that he had learned very well, the founding principle of every interaction in Sanctuary: nobody interfered between a Cloth and its bearer. It simply wasn't done.

But when he caught the eye of Helena, still pinned to the wall, and he read the fear in them, he knew he could not stay still a moment more.

With the _strafottenza_ typical of the Italian island he came from, he nonchalantly put a hand on the Master's shoulder, and when the Cloth turned slightly to glare at him to let go, he punched him again, this time with enough force to send him flying away from his precious sister.

This action seemed to be the rousing bell that everybody was waiting for, because when the Snake Master jumped back up to his feet, ready to return the favour, Bringer and the other Cloths moved together to stop the enraged man and let Death Mask slink away with Helena safe in his arms.

"Enough brother! Don't take out your anger on Helena! She has done nothing to warrant this!"

Despite being stronger than the healer, Bringer still struggled in keeping his brother down.

"Please, Master! Stop this! Helena has done nothing wrong! And neither did Elpida all those years ago!"

As if Lover's words had flipped a switch inside the Master's head, all his fight drained from him and his sagged under Cancer's hold, almost bringing them both to the ground.

"What do you mean? She organized a secret meeting with you! She allied herself with you, _against_ me! Why do you say she did nothing wrong? What do you define this?"

"Yeah, she came to us. But boy, I had never seen anybody more mistrustful than young Elpida on that day…"

Tox's bitter laugh echoed in the small garden. It was apparent that the young paladin of justice had taken Elpida's demeanour that day by heart.

"She came to us prepared for war. She hadn't come to make allies. She had reluctantly sought us because she desperately wanted to save you, Master! She had come with a proposal, a cease-fire. She wanted us to apologize to you. She wanted our complete and utter capitulation, and she wasn't going to listen to anything else. We had hurt her, and it was evident in the way she kept us at a distance, but she was willing to forgo that if that meant she could help you! Her eyes spoke one single truth: she would have allied with Hades himself if it had meant your safety and happiness. We were the lesser of two evils, but an evil nonetheless. What you interrupted, what you thought was a secret gathering behind you back, was nothing more than a long tongue-lashing from one petite girl to a room full of seasoned warriors. She never had any intention of forgiving us, only to use us as a stepladder for your future happiness…"

"That isn't exactly true, Tox…"

Once again Helena's voice sounded in the room, freezing everybody's thought process at the same time.

"Elpida wasn't that petty. She wouldn't have sought you, and asked you that, if she at least hadn't thought about forgiving you. Sure it had hurt, figuratively and literally, when you had left her for dead, but she understood enough of war to know that, sometime, the need of the many outweighs the need of the few, or the one. But Tox is right, Master. What you interrupted wasn't her betrayal towards you. I beg of you, trust me on this! Elpida never wanted to betray you! You were her hero, the one person in the world she loved more than herself, the one for whom she would have sold her soul…"

Helena could tell that the Master still wasn't convinced of the fact, but she saw him acquiescing, trusting on the fact that she had never lied to him.

"Anyhow, I think you all can imagine what happened when the Master discovered the supposed betrayal. He never bothered to wait for an explanation and in his fury he unleashed his powerful Cosmo onto them. Nobody will be surprised if I tell you that the other Cloths retaliated, and soon it became an all out war. The commotion had attracted even Athena in the room and it was then that the Master committed his worst sin. Probably blinded by fury he never even saw Athena on the field and she might not even have been his target in the first place. But the result was that, whoever was the intended target for the hit, ducked and Athena was hit instead. You don't need me to tell you what happened next: if there had been discord between the Gold Saints before that moment it was all forgotten. Athena had been hit, by one of them, and that was a shame none of them could bear. And so they did exactly what any Saint would have done. They unleashed everything they had on their ex-companion. And would have worked had it been anybody but the Ophiucus. You have seen my rebound right? That's exactly what happened. And that is how the _official_ story ends: in a big bang of light it was said that the fourteen top warriors of Athena had annihilated themselves, and when the dust went down nothing remained of them, except thirteen golden boxes at Athena's feet."

"Why are you telling this story, Helena? I know what had happened! Did you want them all to remember? What good would that do?"

"Yes Master, I know you do know this story, and one of the reasons I told it was so that the others could remember it again as well. But the main reason I decided to tell you all this is simple: that story doesn't end like that."

It was a testament to the emotional state they were all in that nobody thought to express their stupor with more than a raised eyebrow.

"Helena…are you sure you want to continue? Shall I take over?"

"I appreciate the offer, Saori, but other than kill you as well, you taking over will not save my life. And at the moment I'd rather not have to worry about your safety alongside mine, ok?"

Smiling softly at the forlorn expression currently adorning her best friend's face, Helena steeled herself for the last part of her long, long story.

"History tells us that the first Gold Saints were chained to their Cloths as eternal punishment for their actions. But that wasn't exactly true. Being chained to their Cloths wasn't punishment, it was the exact opposite. Because when the light from the blast finally died down, the original warriors were faced with an unforgettable sight: even though he had put on a brave fight, there was nothing the Snake Master could have done against all the others. Body broken beyond recollection the still form of the former healer of Athena was bathed in a surreal light that Bringer quickly identified as Hades' personal signature. Because, you see, summoned by the commotion, several Gods had descended to Sanctuary, including Zeus and Hades who had summoned the Master's soul, ready to plunge it deep into Cocytus, where all traitors reside. Knowing that the Master soul waited eternal damnation for the sin of striking a God, Bringer, Lover and all the others appealed to Zeus and all the Olympians to grant the healer a second chance to repent himself for his sins. Even though Zeus knew that the Master wasn't entirely to blame for what had happened, he had still hit a God and that was something that the Father of all Gods could not, and would not, overlook. It was actually Kaiser who came up with the idea: to chain Ophiucus soul to the Cloth, thus giving him immortality and a chance to atone for his sins. Given that the crime had been hitting a God, Zeus thought it fitting that the punishment was protecting the very same God for all eternity and so he granted the request. But the Saints weren't quite done: they were all aware of the fact that they had sinned as well, maybe not against Athena herself, but against every principle of justice she had represented. They felt the need to atone for their sins, to become better protectors of those ideals that had drawn them in the first time they had met Athena. They also felt guilty for what they had done to the Master, and so the Saints asked Zeus to link them all to their Cloths as well. Shocked by their willingness to give up their lives in order to beg forgiveness for what was basically an act of justified violence, Zeus tried to convince them to desist from their suicidal plan, but to no avail. Hoping that, someday, the fourteen souls could finally find the peace they were so desperately craving, the Father of all the Gods, linked the souls of the remaining Saints to their Cloths. But there was something that nobody had taken into account. Not willing to see all her hard work go to waste when the Snake Master would realize what the others had done for him, Eris tampered with Zeus' magic: Bringer and the others became Cloths, yes, but their memories had been altered, so that they all thought Ophiucus a traitor. Athena begged her father to reverse the spell, but even the almighty Zeus cannot alter the course of Fate and, once released, the spell was out of his hands. Knowing that no help would come from her father, Athena decided to simply tell the Cloths the truth, but Eris had already foreseen that eventuality and had arranged her strategy accordingly. She cursed the events and their retelling: nobody could speak about that story or the price they would have to pay was their death. Having been done by a Goddess this was true also for Athena herself. Cursed into silence, Athena thought about challenging Fate: after all what justice would she represent if she allowed her own Saints to be thus mistreated? But before our idiotic…"

The shoe that had come sailing towards her head from the general direction in which Saori had been seated did nothing to prevent Helena from winking conspiratorially to her Goddess who, recognizing she was fighting a losing battle, retired from the fight grumbling under her breath about idiotic friends and the possibility of ceasing such friendship – not that she was ever going to consider it seriously.

"…Goddess decided she was going to immolate herself on the altar of justice, someone nobody had noticed up until that very moment, detached from the shadow and came into the light. Elpida, because it was none other than the young girl, stopped Athena from giving up her life, stating that, if someone really had to die it was better for a young replaceable human instead of an irreplaceable divine being. But Athena could not let her sacrifice her life, not after everything that had already happened. The Goddess of Justice knew that if the Cloths' memories returned at the expense of Elpida's life, there was no way that the Master was going to accept their heartfelt apology. Athena knew that, whatever the cost, she needed to keep Elpida alive. And so, even though she knew she was condemning her beloved Saints to a false life, and the Master to an eternity of scorn and hatred, Athena stopped Elpida from talking, shouldering the responsibility that came from absconding the truth. That didn't mean that Elpida had given up her hope of saving her beloved Master: in front of all the assembly of the Gods, she formally asked Athena to be the first one to be trained as the Ophiucus Saint, stating that she was probably the only one who could shoulder such a heavy Cloth. Knowing the strong bond between the Healer and his young charge Athena granted Elpida permission to become the very first Ophiucus Saint. Once she had finally mastered the murderous Cloth, she set out to find other candidates for the other twelve armours, all the while keeping the story close to her heart. Legend has it that, after sending back to Sanctuary the last two Cloths – incidentally Cancer and Pisces – Elpida disappeared. The Ophiucus Cloth reappeared one day in Sanctuary with a new bearer and it was the start of the legend of Ophiucus the Fallen, since only the direct descendants of Elpida would be able to tame the murderous beast living in the Ophiucus Cloth. Always remembering the choice she had made, Athena never denied the Ophiucus Cloth and that is the true reason behind it being a Gold Cloth. But the legend says something else: it states that Elpida herself would reincarnate once more when every single bearer of the Twelve Gold Cloths was the reincarnation of the ones she had chosen the first time. Then, and only then, the story could be finally told and the dire consequences of Eris' deceit and betrayal had a chance of being finally overturned…"

Trailing into silence Helena let her story hang in the air, in front of the astonished faces of the Gold Cloths.

"Helena, out of curiosity, you know this story because..."

Smiling widely to Ace, Helena uttered three words with the power to change the course of history.

"I am Elpida…"


	36. Io sono la speranza

_"__I am Elpida…"_

Of all the things anybody had expected to hear this was by far the most unexpected of them all; if Helena had told them all that she was the reincarnation of Zeus it would have probably been less shocking.

"Wait a second…_you_ are Elpida?"

"Yes…why so surprised Bringer? I did tell you that you hadn't seen the last of me, do you remember?"

No sooner than the last words had left her mouth, all of the Gold Cloths, with the exception of Ophiucus, had somehow extricated themselves from the various object or person they had been lounging upon and had formed a straight line in front of a bewildered looking Helena who, in all her years with them, had seen them doing a lot of strange things which, somehow, didn't compare to what was happening in front of her eyes.

And then, like a well-rehearsed chorus of pre-schoolers, all the Cloths, in full supplicant position with their foreheads on the hard ground, said:

"We are very sorry Elpida! We humbly ask for your forgiveness even though we cannot possibly hope that you would grant it! We understand if you do not want to have anything to do with us anymore, but we really hope that you could find it in your heart to give us another chance to prove you that we have really changed!"

Horrified beyond speech by the frankly embarrassing spectacle in front of her eyes, Helena found that she could only gape like an idiot at the terrible parody unfolding under her very eyes.

"Just for how long have you been rehearsing that? 'cause let me tell you, it's creepy as hell!"

If Helena had thought that some cheap humour – even though she had meant everything she said, especially the fact she thought the entire display creepy – could somehow dispel the serious atmosphere that had suddenly chocked the entire room, she was sorely disappointed.

None of the Gold Saints in front of her moved a muscle and, if possible, they stiffened even more, almost like she had physically hit them with her words.

"Guys?"

Suddenly afraid Helena tried to wiggle free of her Cloth's hold but the Master's strong hands suddenly clamped down on her forearms, effectively pinning her on his lap.

"Brother…"

Bringer's usually gravelly voice sounded almost lost in the thick silence of the room. If not for the fact that, usually, the Cancer Cloth was a loud, ill-tempered individual, Helena could almost swear that he sounded like a scared child, very aware of the fact he had made a blunder, and afraid of having lost his mother's love.

"Please, brother-in-law, say something!"

As if Lover's plea had struck some kind of nerve, the Snake Master abruptly rose to his feet – effortlessly shifting Helena so that she was being carried bridal style in his arms – and without looking at anybody, fled the small gathering.

As Lover made to follow them, she was stopped by a large hand on her shoulder.

"Let them go, pretty girl! We cannot do anything at the moment, the wounds are just to raw and deep. Let Helena work her magic; I am sure she will bring him back! After all she has always been looking out for him, even though none of us had really wanted to admit it. I trust her, don't you?"

"Of course I trust her, Taurus! How can you think I don't? it's just that…that…I don't think it's right…we were the ones who created this mess in the first place and she was a victim of our stupidity! How is it right that we leave her to clean up our mess?"

Cook's gentle smile dimmed a bit at her words and for a moment a lamp of agony flashed in his eyes, but before he could think of a proper response, somebody else beat him to the punch.

"You are right, Lover, it is your mess, and for all intents and purposes you should be the ones to fix it. But what you should do, and what you can do, are two different things. If you try to follow the Ophiucus Cloth now, you'll end up doing more damage than good…"

Aphrodite could see that his own Cloth wanted very much to argue his point, but he held up a perfectly manicured hand to stop her from speaking.

"Let me finish…I know you want to apologize! Believe me, I know that feeling better than you could ever imagine! It's like lead in your stomach, weighing you down, leaving you feeling bereft like you could never breathe easy again unless you apologize to the person you have wronged. And so you push this person, you force her to listen to you, you corner her like an animal until she has no other choice than to listen to you! And then you apologize to her, your mouth forms the words you have been rehearsing for a long time. You give her flowers and pretty words, you make big promises that, if you could think clearly, you would never make, because there's no way you could keep them! You forget to breath in your haste to pour everything out, sure in your knowledge that, after your heartfelt apology, she will have to forgive you, and you'll get back that relationship that your stupidity had ruined. But in your haste, you fail to notice what your self-centeredness is doing to the person you love like the sister you never had. You don't see her eyes dimming, her smile faltering. Too busy trying to say the words, you don't understand that the very same words you are saying have got no meaning, at least not to her. They sound empty to her ears and, if you had kept at least a slight grip on reality, you would have noticed it too…When she starts crying you don't understand, when she starts yelling at you, you scream right back at her, wounded by her blatant disregard of your heartfelt apology. In the end you are so incensed that you tell her something you never wanted to tell her, that you had never even thought about before that very moment. And when she leaves the room, slamming the door behind her, you fall to your knees, the heart you had already thought broken, completely pulverized in your chest, and the only thing you can think is that you never wanted this, that it was supposed to be a simple apology to start again, you weren't supposed to create an even bigger rift between you two. And in the oppressing silence of your temple you realize that you are an asshole, that your so-called heartfelt apology was nothing more than a selfish way to clean your conscience and it had nothing to do with seeking her forgiveness…"

Trailing off into silence, Aphrodite kept his eyes trained to the ground in front of him, not even acknowledging the warm hand he was sure was Death Mask's, squarely set on his shoulder. He hadn't been lying when he had told his Cloth that he understood her plight very well. He knew what it meant knowing you had made a grievous mistake and wanted nothing more to apologize, to have it forgiven not because it was the right thing to do, but to ease your conscience.

What he had told them had really happened and it almost ruined completely his relationship with Helena.

"I'm sorry beloved child…"

Forcing a smile on his stiff lips, Aphrodite refocused his eyes onto the people still kneeled on the ground.

"Don't be sorry! What happened what nothing more than my fault! You cannot change it, and I will have to live with it, like I have to live with every other mistake I made, every other hurt I dealt Helena! But there is one thing you can do, the only thing that will make my mistake less grievous: you can avoid it! Do not make the same mistake I made! Do not apologize now, because it will be perceived as nothing more than the easy way to unburden your conscience, and the Master would be right if he assumed that. In cases like this words have got no meaning: don't say you are sorry, _be_ sorry! Don't say you will change,_ make_ the change! And above all - the one thing I have learned is your best course of action - _trust Helena_! I probably have no right to say this, but I think you owe her! Without her telling you this story, you would have never had the chance to apologize to your brother and, even though she didn't say it, I have the feeling she has done more than she will ever tell you for you, during the centuries!"

Unbeknown to Aphrodite and the other inhabitants of the small garden, Helena, and subsequently the Snake Master, had heard everything that had been said in their absence.

Smiling softly to herself, Helena watched the Cloths pick themselves up, a glint in their eyes that spoke volumes about their newfound resolution, spurred by Aphrodite's confession.

"He sure has grown a lot; don't you think Master?"

When silence was the only answer she got, Helena turned around to face her Cloth, slightly worried by his evident lack of response.

She had expected, and was prepared for, a variety of reactions, but what she really saw broke her heart.

The Snake Master had always been a tall man, both in physical stature and in moral capacity, but there was no trace of that proud being in the man in front of her. Helena was sure she had wanted to kneel, but he looked more like he had crumbled to the floor, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

When she started to approach him – slowly, cautiously, like he was a wounded and skittish animal who could lash out at any given time – she was surprised when he suddenly fixed his wild eyes into hers. She fumbled, at loss for words, and the sheer wrongness of everything hit her like a ton of bricks: because the Snake Master didn't cry, ever.

Deciding to forego the empty words of reassurance that had automatically formed on her tongue, Helena quickly closed the distance between them and, after kneeling in front of him, she proceeded to gather in her arms the trembling form of her Cloth.

"What do I do now, Helena? What am I supposed to do? What do they want me to do? I have hated them for so long! I have despised them, scoffed at their pathetic tries to reform me, to recreate that lost camaraderie. I have lived all of my life secure in the knowledge that they had wronged me. Worst of all, I have always thought they hated me, that they would have never apologized to me, recognized their errors! And now this! Now you tell me that, what I had thought was a cruel punishment, me being transformed into a Cloth, was actually a blessing, my last chance at salvation. And that I have them to thank for it! And even worse: I discover now that they had willingly sacrificed their own life to stay with me on the off chance they could apologize to me! My own younger brother, the one I had strived to protect from everything, had given up his own life as not to condemn me to an eternity alone! They _all_ did! So, what do I do now?"

Helena could almost see the inner struggling her Cloth was experiencing: on the one hand there was his hate towards his former family, a strong and familiar feeling, but on the other there was a blooming new seed of hope, one that the Master had been powerless to stop, that was slowly drowning every other negative feeling.

The young healer knew, with the clarity that only those near death possess, that, in his heart, her beloved Master had already made his decision, and that it was only his head that needed some convincing.

Unfortunately for them all, Helena despaired having the time needed to do that convincing, for she could feel the cold hands of death creeping upon her, colder that Camus' icy Cosmo, and scarier than Death Mask's souls. Nevertheless, she had to try.

Steeling herself she changed their positions slightly so that she could look into the Master's eyes.

"Dear, dear Master, listen to me and listen good, because I don't have much time to tell you this! I have never lied to you, and never will! I won't apologize for what I did in the past because I would do it again if there was even the slightest change of saving you. I'd sell my soul to Hades and ally myself to anyone, anywhere, if it would aid you! I am telling you this so that you know that I am on your side! That being said, I think you should give them another chance!"

She had expected his shock, and the knee-jerk reaction that followed and she easily ignored it.

"Don't lie to me Master! I know you want to forgive them! Hell, to be honest I am pretty sure you would have forgiven them even if I didn't tell you what they did! This is just icing on the cake! Yes, they wronged you, they condemned me without even trying to save me, they despised you and ignored your wishes and needs, but you know they have changed! They have changed so much that they even took under their protection a young girl, and not because I was destined to be your host! Heck they didn't even know I was Elpida! They had simply taken a liking to me, and this tells you more than anything else that they have changed. Even without remembering what they had done, they devised a strategy to protect the bearer of your Cloth, and before you argue that they had done so to keep you in check, may I remind you that they are called Guardians and not Jailers?"

Helena could see the Master caving, could almost taste his desperate need to believe in her words, to give his relationship with the rest of his family another chance.

"Say I do give them another chance…"

Finally! Sure, to anybody else this hypothetical would have been nothing more than that, an hypothesis, but Helena had lived almost all of her two lifetimes with the grumpy healer, to recognize every sign of his changing mind.

"…what am I supposed to do?"


	37. E vissero tutti felici e contenti?

"Master?"

Ace's whisper sounded like a shout in the tense silence that had fallen over the occupants of the small garden, followed by an almost synchronized turning of heads in the direction of the door, which would have been hilarious if the situation had been anything different.

As it was, whoever had thought the situation funny, had to swallow back their laugh when their eyes focused on the figure standing stone still in the middle of the archway: eyes black and slightly narrowed as to value each and every one of his family's convictions, long hair lightly moving in the wind generated by the quiet storm of his Cosmo, stiff upright posture, emanating a subdued anger, belied only by the gentle curve of his arms, protectively cradling his young host, whose pale face had her own brothers in a state on anxiety.

"YOU IDIOTS! YOU MORONIC IMBECILES! YOU…YOU ASSHOLES! I OUGHT TO KILL YOU ALL HERE AND NOW!"

Helena didn't need her eyes open to know that the Master's outburst had shocked all the Cloths, their emotions thick like syrup in her mouth.

"But…"

"SHUT UP, BROTHER!"

Bringer wasn't sure if he was more shocked because his usually calm and collected brother had started to yell with no apparent reason, or if said man had referred to him, voluntarily, as his brother, something the Cancer Cloth knew that the Snake Master had not done since long before their deaths.

"HOW IN THE NAME OF ATHENA COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT? AND TO LOVER TOO?"

Knowing he was risking his head, but not really understanding what had his brother in such a frenzy, Bringer dared to speak up again.

"What have we done exactly?"

The glare that the Master sent in the direction of his younger brother should have turned him to ashes, given the heat he had managed to infuse in it.

"What. Have. You. DONE? You are seriously asking what you have done? You killed yourself! You voluntarily gave up your life, you morons! You condemned yourself to an eternity stuck as scraps of metal and on top of that you left Athena unprotected! How could you have been this stupid?"

The Master sudden outburst gave everybody pause: in their haste to save the healer from eternal damnation and to apologize properly to him they had all forgotten that, by dying without having chosen their successors, they were basically leaving their beloved Goddess unprotected. As for the Master's other accusations…well…

"We apologize for leaving Athena without her Gold Saints. While she wasn't completely unprotected, given that there were other Saints to guard her…"

At that Helena couldn't help but quietly snort to herself. The Gold Saints had no one but themselves to blame if the Pegasus Saint had developed such a close bond with their Goddess. Somebody had had to step up and protect her air-headed divinity, and in those dark times the only one who had managed to do that had been the first Pegasus, since she, as Elpida, had categorically refused to be anywhere within a hundred meters from Athena.

Unaware of her hidden musings, Bringer kept talking to his brother, trying to explain the situation without the need of further incidents.

"…I'll admit that that was a very careless and stupid mistake on our part. As for our choice of dying to be able to stay with you…if it makes you feel so embarrassed to think that we did it for your sake, shall I remind you that it was our punishment for having strayed from the path of true justice? It was also the ultimate proof of our devotion for Athena. After all, with this decision, we have been able to stay with her throughout the centuries, and we have also managed to choose our bearers so that they could properly protect Athena."

Not exactly true, since she had done the selection the first time and from then on the Cloths had almost always chosen the reincarnations of those first warriors, but Helena could let that slide for the moment.

"As for the other accusation you moved us…I think I, we, were old enough to decide for our own life, didn't we? And I, for one, do not believe that I have squandered my life needlessly. You see, when you first joined Athena in her quest, I knew that you had done it for me and Lover, and I vowed to myself that, one day, I was going to repay your kindness and love. But time passed and I started to forget my promise. I thought that you enjoyed the life we had, forgetting that your call had never been to take lives, but to save them. When everything went to Hell I was suddenly reminded of that, of the sacrifices you made for us. After all you had sacrificed your life so that I could be happy, and still with my family; so I thought it was a good bargain for me, to sacrifice my life so that you could still be with your family. It was the least I could do. After all I had just condemned you to the exact same life you had been trying to get away from. The least I could do, was keeping you company."

At his right Lover was frantically nodding in time with her husband's explanation, hoping to convey her feelings on the matter. She had treated her brother-in-law like the lowest of the servants, taking his presence and kind heart for granted. She had felt so guilty that when Bringer had explained to her his idea, she had immediately agreed with him, knowing in her heart that it was their turn to sacrifice something for the Master.

"Oh c'mon you old geezer! Loosen up a bit! You always wanted to stay with them forever! Look at the bright side! You got your wish!"

And leave it to Ace, to transform a serious family moment into a drunken carnival of some kind. Completely unimpressed with the display, the Master only raised one eyebrow towards the other's very blasé attitude.

"And, pray tell, why am I forced to spend my eternity with _you_ as well?"

"Oh! You wound me!"

Clenching his hands near his heart, Ace made a grand show of being hit by the Master's cold words, going as far as collapsing to the ground, mockingly taking what, Helena supposed, were his last breaths.

The swift and lethal kick that his beloved aimed at his unprotected private parts, left him truly gasping.

"Stop that pathetic display now, you disgusting cheater! Why in the name of sanity did I decide to offer you a place as a Saint for Athena, will always be unclear for me!"

"Oh sugary popsicle of my heart! You wound me! You know you cannot live without me.."

Completely ignoring the pitiful whining coming from the Scorpio Cloth, and in the meantime totally crushing the fingers in his left hand, Ice moved closer to the Ophiucus Cloth, who still hadn't moved from the archway.

"It was our choice Master, regardless of the motives behind it. You never asked us to do it, so now you do not have to bear the responsibility for our actions. What we chose that day, we chose freely, and in full possession of our mental faculties – the one who had them of course! – so you are not to blame. Actually, to be completely honest, I didn't choose to link myself to my Cloth because of you; I asked Zeus to link _you_ to your Cloth for your sake, but as for my decision, well your role in it, was truly minimal. I felt I had betrayed the ideals that had prompted me to join Athena's ranks, and I was willing to do anything to atone for my sins. So kindly stop thinking the world revolves around you, and accept the fact you are well and truly stuck with us for eternity!"

If Helena had still had any energy left to move, she would have kissed Ice for what she had said. Granted, it had almost looked like she hadn't been interested at all in what the Master had experienced at their hands, but Helena had learned to know her very well and had understood that what she had said had been her way to show the Master that, in the end, they had taken their decision on their own free will, and that there was nothing the Master should feel guilty for.

Apparently appeased by her words the Master casted a glance at the other Cloths in the garden and what he saw on their faces – the same resolve that was still etched on Ice chiselled features – was enough to tear down every last wall in his heart.

With a small sob his lips stretched in a watery smile, one that Lover took as an invitation for a hug, that quickly became a messy group affair that resembled more a dog pile than anything else.

Helena, who had been in the very middle of it, would have been seriously ecstatic if only she had been able to properly draw breath.

Alerted by the slight wheezing sounds coming from the girl in his arms the Snake Master gently disengaged himself and his light cargo from his family's orgy, moving slightly closer to the girl's Guardians, who looked like they were about to have a heart attack.

"Don't think I have forgotten about you, young one! After all this time, you still came after me? Even knowing what I had done to you, you chose to be my host? We need to talk, Helena…"

Nodding slightly, Helena managed to smile weakly at her Cloth.

"I'd love to, Master. But can we take a rain check for now?"

Frowning at the pained tone she had used, the Master took a look at his young charge, and what he saw tore a whimper out of his throat.

Because his keen and expert eyes of a healer had seen something his mind was still trying to refute.

Helena was dying.

Quickly depositing the young girl on the ground, the Master called upon his trusted power in order to heal whatever ailment was threatening his beloved young one.

But when nothing changed, when the golden light of his power brought no relief to Helena, he was left floundering, betrayed even by his own power.

When he felt one cold hand on his own, he lift his head and his sad eyes met the pained lilac ones of Helena who, through a small smile, shook her head.

"Your powers won't work on this, Master…it's not a wound you can cure. It's a curse, one that was made to target my very soul. I have been lucky to last for as long as I did. There was a reason why the legend stated that the story could only be told when all the reincarnations of the first bearers of the Golden Cloths had been born all together. It's simple enough: Elpida had a soul bond with all of them, as much as I do. And it is exactly that soul bond that enabled me to last as long as I have."

Nodding slightly to show his understanding, the Master bit his lip to prevent desperation from entering his next words.

"But if being connected to them had made you last this long against the curse, why doesn't it save you completely from it?"

"Because, while they are all very dear to me, none of their souls is the perfect match for mine. Not one of them could provide that protection my soul needs to overcome the curse…"

Shaking her slightly in rage, the Master yelled at his host.

"You haven't even tried it! You are entirely dismissing the possibility that one of them is your soul mate without even asking them!"

"Master! Enough!"

Though weakened, the burst of her Cosmo had been enough to jolt the Healer out of his funk.

"What does he mean, Helena? Is it true that one of us could be your soul mate? You just have to say the word, sweetheart!"

Oh, stupid, heroic, kind-hearted, idiotic Aioros! Always, always thinking about the others and never about himself. Leave it to him to propose _that_ of all things.

Although, Helena couldn't help but be surprised to notice it, it wasn't the only one who had thought that a good idea!

"Stupid, self-sacrificing idiots!"

She could see that her brothers hadn't expected her to insult them!

"I love you all very much, soft-hearted cretins! I think that some of you know that I could never be their soul mate, don't you Ros?"

She could see that he had understood her meaning quite well, but she could also see the quiet, sneaky glance, he had thrown in Saga's direction and the just as sneaky glance Saga had given him in return. Apparently those two idiots were willing to sacrifice their bond if it meant she could live! And if she had seen correctly, even her Guardians were truly thinking about it.

"Guys! GUYS! Stop it! Please! No amount of denial on your part will ever make _me_ your soul mate, so please stop it!"

"What are we supposed to do then, Helena? Leave you to die? Because let me tell you, I will not accept it!"

"Camus…"

"NO! You will not die! If it's necessary I will scour the earth for the one who is supposed to be your soul mate! I don't care where or _when_ he is! I will find him and bring him here, to you!"

"Oh Milo…"

Helena could see the desperation in those sea-blue eyes and her heart broke for him.

"There is no need for you to scour the earth to find my soul mate, Milo darling. I already know who he is…"

The sudden appearance of eerie blue lights told Helena that Death Mask meant business.

"Tell me where I can find him, dear sister, and I will bring him here, whether he wants it or not!"

"Mask, MASK! Don't! Please! I don't really think he wants me like that, at least he had never given me and indication of the contrary. And I will not bind him to someone he does not want to be bound to! Am I clear?"

"Are you sure about that, Helena?"

That voice! No, it couldn't be…

Standing in all his glory in the run down entry archway of the garden was the man Helena had never thought would utter those words towards her once more.

"Minos?"

Helena hated how weak and unsure her voice had sounded, and not just because she was running out of energy fast. Minos had always had that effect on her, he had always made her knees go weak and her heart beat twice as fast.

"What are you doing here?"

Completely ignoring her question the Infernal Judge strode into the cramped space and, brushing off every attempt made by the Saints to stop him, he advanced towards the girl on the floor, stopping mere inches from her.

Fixing her with a heated glare he looked down to her, still standing to have a better intimidating effect, and spoke a few words that completely blew whatever sanity the people in the garden had managed to retain.

"Why is it, that I had to know from Pandora of all people, that my _wife_ was on the verge of death?"

"Wife?!"

"Yes, wife, you retarded arthropod! Have you got any problems with that?"

Before Milo could answer him, Helena suddenly found her voice again.

"You _remember?_"

"Yes…of course I remember! No thanks to you, though…"

"Since _when_ do you remember? Why didn't you tell anything sooner?"

"Why didn't _I _tell you anything? Why didn't _you_? If you have always known, you could have at least had the decency to tell me!"

"I _couldn't_ you big lump! And you know very well why!"

"Well it doesn't look like you were very scared of death, does it? After all for your _precious_ family you did take the risk! But telling me, no…that wasn't on your list of priorities!"

"What?"

Now he had done it! Helena had always prided herself in being a very patient and understanding person – being a healer came very much in handy in those cases – but Minos' attitude had passed the limit.

Not caring that she wasn't supposed to get up, that her body was more dead than alive, she extricated from the Master's slack grip and let her fist connect to her husband's nose.

"You idiot! You complete and utter stupid man! The punishment wasn't _my_ death! It was your life as one of the Infernal Judges on the line! Don't you remember what Hades had told you? The deal we struck with Persephone? Think about them, Minos, and then tell if I really should have told you!"

Looking at the spluttering expression the Infernal Judge was making, Helena thought to herself that she really should decide to write a book on how-to-shock-a-man in ten steps or less. Either she was really good at this business, or the men she was surrounded by were real idiots. It could go either way.

Just as she was about to tell the idiot what she had meant, she saw the proverbial lamp switch on and Minos finally caught the meaning behind her words.

"Oh…"

"Yes…oh…"

"Not that the entertainment isn't appreciated, but care to elaborate further than _oh_? You know, for those of us, poor idiots, who haven't got a clue about what you are talking about?"

It was a good thing, Helena mused, that Manigoldo had already experienced talking with the Twin Gods of Death, Hypnos and Thanatos, because at least that had given him the edge when it came to prodding the armies of Hell. Otherwise she was sure that the scalding look Minos had directed towards him, would have melted him on the spot.

"Not your business, crab! So, that's why you didn't tell me? Because you were waiting to see if I really loved you?"

When he said it like _that_, Helena knew she had been childish and petty. The deal they had struck with Persephone hadn't exactly been binding: the Goddess of the Underworld had simply stated that if he truly loved her, he would have no problem remembering her, even after his memories had been sealed by Hades. If he could do so, then they could have lived happily ever after, without anyone saying anything. That didn't exactly mean that, if she told him, they couldn't be together. It would have simply been more complicated, and maybe Minos would have had to resign his post as an Infernal Judge, but there wouldn't have been more consequences than that.

"Ok…I may have been a bit pissed at you, and I wanted confirmation…after all, well…you hadn't been exactly…how do I put it…faithful?"

Once again Enlightenment struck Minos.

"You were _jealous!_ Of _him_? Oh my stars! This is precious!"

If she could have, Helena would have buried herself somewhere far, far away. Not only Minos had gotten the real reason behind her actions, but he was about to give that away to everybody!

"Sweetheart, there's no need to hide now!"

How she hated him in that moment!

"There is no way that _he _could ever compete with _you_! He was simply a pretty face, just to pass the time!"

At these words Aphrodite, who had finally caught on the fact that they were talking about him, didn't know if to feel insulted at being addressed as "just a pretty face", or relieved that Minos hadn't taken more than a passing fancy in him. As good as it had been to have the most handsome Infernal Judge hot on his tail, the Pisces Saint knew that, if Minos was really Helena's soul mate, he wouldn't want to stand in between his sister's happiness.

Thinking the situation settled Dite was a bit taken aback when Helena refused to meet his eyes; could she be _angry_ at him?

-No, Dite…not angry…just _embarrassed_…-

-Embarrassed? About what? –

It really looked like her dear brother just wanted her to die of shame.

\- I was jealous of you, Aphrodite…-

-Oh…that's…stupid!-

-How so? I have seen how you looked at him, Dite! Please don't lie to me! I am perfectly aware of the fact that he is devilishly handsome!-

-I won't deny that I may have thought him handsome…but darling if I still haven't left that vulgar idiot, don't you think that _maybe_, and I say _maybe_, I might be in love with him? –

She couldn't believe her ears! Aphrodite, who in all the years she had known him, had always categorically denied any feeling towards Death Mask, had just admitted to loving him, at least enough not to consider Minos as a potential partner. She could almost weep for joy!

-You tell him anything, dear sister, and I will make any punishment he has ever dished out, look _tame_ in comparison! Are we clear? –

Giggling slightly to herself, Helena simply nodded her acceptance, not even bothered by the threat she knew he would never see through.

Helena would have loved nothing more than to stay like this forever, but Fate was a cruel master and it suddenly reminded her of her precarious situation, via a vicious cough that left her breathless and with the distinct sensation of having lost a lung somewhere.

"Helena, there is no time…you need to decide now!"

She nodded slightly at Minos' words. She had already decided, but telling her brothers might not be easy.

"Athena…I…"

"I know, Helena! There is no need for you to tell me anything! I will not oppose this, not this time! Not only your soul is owned at the very least this much, but you, as Helena, are my best friend. If there was even the slightest chance at saving you, I would take it! It doesn't really matter if you are not a Saint anymore! Just the fact that you are alive, is enough for me! So, I, Athena, release you, Ophiucus no Heleiana, from your vow! There will not be another Ophiucus Saint in this generation, for the Cloth is tied to you, but he will stay by your side, whatever you decide to do, until you are no more for this earth. After that, the Snake Master will return to my side, to choose another host. As for you, dear sister, you are free to live your life as you wish it. You are a Saint no more!"

It was more than Helena had ever imagined. Athena had given her permission to go, and even let the Snake Master stay with her. Apparently the Master thought so as well, if his bewildered face was any indication. But he recovered quicker than her, and sent a thankful look towards his Goddess.

"What is happening, Helena?"

"I am sorry Milo…"

"Why are you sorry, Helena? Where are you going? What is going on? Why did Athena release you?"

Steeling herself, Helena took a deep breath, trying to stop her tears from falling, without much success.

"I don't think I will come back, Milo…what I am about to try, well I don't even know if it'll work, as nobody has ever tried it before. And even if I am very lucky, and I do keep on living after this, dear one, I will be married to a Spectre. And not just married as in "we have signed a piece of paper", I will be _soul-bonded_ to him. I don't think it's compatible with being a Saint of Athena. That is why Athena is releasing me. So that I can live my life as a normal girl: marry the man I have been in love with all my lives, and live with him as any normal girl of twenty would."

"But we are going to see each other, right? Even if you aren't a Saint, anymore?"

She hated doing this to him, but she knew that, in the long run, it was better if she cut every bridge in that moment.

"No, Milo…I have served Athena for two lifetimes. I have sacrificed my freedom, my childhood, my happiness, my love on her altar. I have a chance to not sacrifice this life in her name. I am sorry, brother, but I will take it!"

She knew Milo wanted to say something else, something more, anything to have her change her mind, but Camus' hand on his shoulder and his subtle nod, stopped him in his tracks.

"Be happy, _ma petite soeur_! We will be fine!"

A look of understanding passed between Helena and Camus, and a quick group hug was her goodbye to her other brothers, all the while she tried to kept the tears at bay.

Ready to go she looked around the small garden and her eyes landed on the two figures she was going to miss the most, and she couldn't contain her tears.

"I will miss you, _lillasister_, but I am so very happy for you! Live the life you have always deserved! Live to the fullest and don't look back! I will always think of you, and if you feel lonely just look at the stars and think of me, of us, somewhere I will look at them too, and I will think of you! I love you, Helena! And it has been an honour and a pleasure being your Guardian, being your _brother_!"

In Aphrodite's arms Helena cried, sobbing so hard that no words came to her, but one look into her brother's sky eyes told her he had heard her heart loud and clear.

With a last hug Aphrodite stepped back and left Death Mask and Helena alone.

"Don't you dare die, brat! Have I made myself clear? Otherwise I will personally come to collect your sorry ass and deliver it to the coldest place in Cocytus, do you understand?"

A watery chuckle escaped Helena's lips and she soon found her way into Death Mask's waiting arms.

"I hear you loud and clear, _fratello mio_! Please, take care! Of you and of Aphrodite! You have been the best Guardians, the best brothers I could have ever wished for! I will miss you, Angelo! _Ti voglio bene! Addio!_"

She felt the strong hand of Minos at her back, and soon enough she was nestled in his arms.

With a final look at her family, who was valiantly trying to hold back the tears so she wouldn't worry about them, and a last smile at her two Guardians and Athena, Helena and Minos disappeared into Hell.


	38. Arriva la Discordia

Death Mask was going crazy, or better, crazier than usual and, Saga thought, it wasn't going to be long before his already tenuous control over his temper snapped and he accidentally, or not, sent some poor unfortunate soul to the deepest pits of Hell. Saga had already caught Kardia and Manigoldo setting up bets to see who exactly would be the unfortunate soul in question. He had, secretly of course, already placed his bet: judging by the murderous looks the silver haired Saint kept giving the moping Aioria, Saga figured it wouldn't take much more whining on the Lion's part to make the Sicilian snap. The XXI century Pope, really hoped his assessment would be correct, for the money had reached exorbitant levels, even though he didn't know how he would later justify himself with Aioros, for having left his dear brother to Cancer's merciless pinchers.

But the meagre entertainment couldn't really cover up the fact that all this situation was the mere tip of a much bigger iceberg, that was threatening to drown them all.

The Gemini older twin sighed heavily once more, his traitorous mind stuck replaying their last moments with their sister.

The shock of losing her had been so sudden, so unexpected, that Saga knew it would have taken him more than the mere moments they had to digest it.

One moment they were laughing and crying all together, the next she was gone, swallowed up in the black abyss that was Hades' domain. Nothing short of a miracle could give them back Helena, but Saga feared they had used their share of miracles already.

"Sighing will not bring her back, Saga…"

It was all thanks to his iron control that he _did not_ jump three feet in the air, when her Goddess' voice suddenly rung behind him.

"…but being so lost in thought _will_ kill you! And I don't really think she would appreciate the irony of you dying because you were busy sighing!"

Athena was right; he hadn't even heard her approach and, contrary to Helena, Saori did not possess the timeless grace needed to advance stealthily enough to surprise a veteran like him, at least not when he was keeping check on his surroundings.

Saori's clumsy persona had always been a source of amusement for Helena, Saga remembered sadly. The young healer had never understood how the powerful Goddess of Justice and War could have reincarnated herself into a girl with no sense of balance whatsoever, who _had_ to be bodily carried away from battles because running away always, always ended up with her flat on her face.

But Helena wasn't there, with them, anymore. And no one would ever laugh at their Goddess' clumsiness again.

"Tell me what is on your mind, my dear Pope, you have shouldered everybody else's grief, but you have not let anyone share yours… I know I am not her, but I will do my best, as I have promised her…"

It seemed that after Helena's disappearance, nobody had really spoken her name anymore, as if not saying it would somehow lighten the burden of her absence.

Sighing once more, and knowing Athena wasn't going to go away unless he told her at least something, he faced the setting sun again, letting the slight breeze soothe his hurt.

"I guess I know now, what she must have felt, at least partially, when we died. And this knowledge breaks my heart; because I don't know how she coped when first her Guardians, and then everybody else died, when I cannot even fathom contemplating the absence of one single person. I already think it's too quiet, and I am surrounded by twelve other people all the time, I cannot imagine what she must have gone through. The silence alone must have been unbearable…"

"It was…do you know that when I offered her the position of Pope, after your death in Elysium, she ran away from Sanctuary and I didn't have any news of her for the next six months?"

At that new piece of information Saga turned so suddenly towards the Goddess, that he might have gotten whiplashed.

"No, she never told me, and I don't think she has ever told Mask or Dite as well. She was always very good at keeping the others from worrying about her. When Arles was in control I was always afraid that he would push her too much and kill her, but she never complained, never cried actually. She always wore a slight smirk – which in hindsight resembled far too much Death Mask's smirk to be a coincidence – and her eyes always had a glint of steel in them. He beat her almost to death more than once, but she always wore that damned smirk. And somehow that smirk became my beacon of light, the promise that, one day, she was going to kill the bastard, freeing me from my curse."

Athena smiled at his words, happy that her Pope had finally found the inner peace he had always strived to achieve. For years he had identified himself with Arles, shouldering his blames and horrific crimes. But what he had just said gave Athena hope that the stubborn man in front of her had finally moved past those dark years, and into a new brighter future.

"But, you know Athena, what you told me about her doesn't really surprise me…Helena never wanted to be Pope, I think the role scared her more than she liked to admit…"

"No, Saga. It wasn't for that reason she ran away. No, she ran from your ghosts, she ran from the sense of abandonment that your death had left in her. She ran from what she perceived as her biggest failure of them all: you all dead, and she alive. And that is exactly why I am telling you this now, Saga. Because I know she would have wanted you to know: just like your deaths weren't her fault, her disappearance isn't yours. There was nothing you could do, no scenario in which you could have made a different choice. You are not to blame!"

Like a dam breaking underneath too much pressure, Saga's iron control broke under the stress of all of his pent up emotions. With a broken wail he kneeled on the hard marble of the terrace, face buried in the white folds of his Goddess' dress, crying for Helena and her tragic story, for Death Mask and Aphrodite, for Milo and the others, for the Goddess and for himself.

In the bloody red sunset of a Greece so far away from home, Saga let go of everything and let somebody else take care of him.

After a while, when Athena's dress was all but completely soaked, Saga's tears finally stopped coming. With one last sigh he stood up and faced his Goddess once more.

"I won't apologize for ruining your dress, for I know you will hit me! But I will tell you this, my Goddess: if her, Helena's, disappearance wasn't our fault, neither was yours. You cannot keep blaming yourself for what happened in the past! Helena wouldn't have wanted that! You know full well that, if she hadn't forgiven you, there was no way she would have gone to such great lengths just to repair the relationships between your Saints. Maybe what happened in the age of myth could have been avoided, but what's done is done, and no amount of wishing can ever change it. But what we _can_ change is the future. Helena would not have wanted you, us, to wither away. She told us the story so that we could be forewarned about our enemy and what is about to come. If we wallow in pity now, we lose the advantage she has given her life to give us. I don't know if whatever she wanted to do with Minos worked, or if we will see her when our souls will be judged one final time, but I know one thing, Athena, I want to make Helena proud! I will not squander another chance. I have lost friends and family once without doing anything to stop it. If it's the last thing I do, I will not lose anyone else because I failed to take action. I will honour Helena's memory when I will have plunged my fist into Eris' heart!"

"That was unusually verbose for you Saga, and awfully inspiring! I think, no I _know_ that Helena would have been proud of you!"

"Death Mask?"

"Who did expect? The fairy godmother?"

"From what you said, somehow, _yes_!"

"You little…"

But Death Mask was never able to punch Saga square in the face because a crystalline laughter rung in the air.

"Athena?"

Seated on the floor, with her back on a column, like she had slid down on it, Athena's laughter soon became incontrollable sobs, rocking her petite body like a ship in a storm.

Frozen in front of the unexpected turn of events, her Gold Saints could do nothing better that stare at her gaping like fishes; Helena would have known what to do. Helena would have come towards her, while yelling to the others to do something useful or move their asses out of the way; Helena would have hugged her, dried her tears and made a quip about how emotional she was being, and how it wasn't really the best trait in a Goddess.

Helena would have…but Helena wasn't there anymore.

Saori, Athena – she didn't really know who she was anymore – knew that Helena's soul deserved the freedom she had always negated her, she knew she deserved a chance at living, that releasing her was the only thing Athena could have done to, at least try, to save the one person who had sacrificed so much in her name.

But Saori, in all of her human glory and many, many faults, missed her best friend like she missed air. She missed her smile, her laughter, her cynicism and her sarcasm; she missed her wisdom and her ingenuity. But worst of all she _hated_ not knowing what had happened to Helena: was she dead? Did the soul bond with Minos work? Would she ever be able to visit her? Or would Helena be stuck in Hell forever, as the wife of one of the Infernal Judges, forever out of Saori's reach?

The breath hitched in her throat when she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her slim frame and she couldn't contain a small smile when she detected the faint odour of strong cigarettes and alcohol that seemed to permanently cling to the man who was, if a tad awkwardly, hugging her.

"Helena was right, Death Mask…your hugs are _really_ something else!"

Hearing him spluttering like an idiot while blushing like a school girl, brought another, stronger smile, onto Saori's lips.

"Don't get used to it, milady! It's in the job description to take care of the Goddess, and it looked like none of the others were taking the initiative! Plus the look of pure outrage that Sagittarius is sporting right now is actually very amusing!"

"Helena wouldn't have wanted you to cry over her…I think she would have wanted us to throw a party, in her memory! Maybe we really should do that, ne Mask?"

But before anybody could properly respond to Aphrodite's suggestion, a white light exploded right in front of their eyes and the air movement from said explosion blasted them all onto the various columns decorating the throne room.

When the dust cleared a bit Athena, who had thankfully been spared the brunt end of the marble column by Death Mask, who had had the readiness not to let go of her, looked around the room, relieved to see that all her Saints were still breathing, even though they looked a bit dizzy from the blast.

When her eyes moved to the light that still shone from the balcony on which they had all been standing ten seconds prior, Athena couldn't help but bite out a curse at what she was seeing.

In front of her, almost translucent in the white light, stood the only person Athena had hoped never to see again.

"Did you miss me, Athena?"

"Eris…"

"They are in trouble! I can feel it from here!"

"There is nothing you can do to help them!"

"Let me go, Minos! Eris is there, she is about to strike them! Let me GO!"

"Stop struggling, Helena! There is _nothing_ you can do for them! You know it! You knew it before accepting my proposal! You are as good as dead to them! _Forget they ever existed_!"

"No, Minos. I cannot and will not do that!"

"What can you do? Really Helena, what will you do, then?"

"Watch me…"


	39. Cavalieri d'Oro, unitevi!

"Well, well, well...what do we have here, my dear Athena? The Gold Saints united! But aren't you missing a member of your merry band of idiots? Was the story too much? Did she gasp like a fish out of water by the end of it? Pity I don't have Hades' power, for I would have very much liked to see dear sweet Elpida choke on her spit!"

A faint hissing cut through the air and a soft thud resonated on the marble column just behind where Eris had been standing two seconds prior, where Aphrodite's red rose had embedded itself.

"My, my…did I touch a sore spot? It must have been humiliating to be so powerless! To look at your precious charge withering in front of your eyes and not being able to do anything to save her! You sure have come a long way from those heartless bastards who let a young girl die to save their skin…"

Suddenly lighting struck inside the Throne Room aimed at the Goddess of Discord who, unfortunately, did no more than raising a finger to stop the electric attack, all the while cackling in maniacal glee.

"Eris! What do you want? Haven't you caused enough damage?"

"Athena dear! There you are! For a second I didn't recognize you…let me tell you the girl you have chosen this time is one of your worst choices ever! But let's discuss the details later, after all even if the wrapping isn't good, the present underneath is all that counts!"

Saori knew it was useless to take offence at Eris' words, but a small part of her, the one that continued to consider herself human, was suddenly struck with insecurities: was she going to be enough? Would her shameful human body hinder all of them? After all, her lack of knowledge had already condemned her Saints to death once, and she had just lost Helena. Would Saga and the others perish once again because of her?

"Lady Saori! Don't listen to her! She is just trying to make you doubt yourself! Do not give her that power over you! You are Athena, Saori! Nobody else is! We acknowledge you as Athena, as our Goddess and we will gladly give our lives to you once more! If you cannot trust yourself, then trust us!"

Shaka…the one man said to be closest to God. Well, if the closest being to divinity had acknowledged her as his Goddess, Saori thought that she couldn't receive a clearer answer to her previous doubts. Smiling to herself she nodded in the blonde's direction, to signal her understanding and thanks, and with a burst of Cosmo she called forth her faithful Nike, in the form of her sceptre.

"I will ask you again, Eris! What do you want? If it was revenge against Ophiucus or Elpida you have obtained them both! They are both gone, far out of our reach, so that not even you could touch them again!"

\- And please, please if there is anybody listening, let Helena and the Master stay far, far away from all of this! –

"Revenge against Ophiucus? What made you think that was my goal? If anything I need to thank that wonderful man for helping me so much the first time! You should have seen his soul after you ordered to let that girl die! A thing of beauty indeed! No, the Master was never my objective! But I'll admit that crushing that idiot girl was surely in my plans! After all she had hindered me one too many times to let her actually live on peacefully! That I get to kill you, to get back at her, is just icing on a rather splendid cake!"

The ice spear aimed at the deranged Goddess did not manage to do more than stop once more the hideous cackle that Eris seemed to have adopted.

"My, my…Athena you should really keep your dogs on a tighter leash! Well, who do I begin from? Maybe I could do you in in pairs, so that I can finish up early and then, dear Goddess of Justice, when those pests are out of our way, we could get back to the discussion about friendship we were having so many eons ago, don't you think?"

Deranged, completely off the hinges; that was the only description Athena could come up with in relation to the mad woman in front of her.

She had told them she had wanted to extract her revenge on Elpida's soul for every thwarting attempt she had made over the years – and since when Helena had fought the Goddess of Discord, and why hadn't she told Saori anything? – but Eris had also mentioned the fact that she still very much wanted to be Athena's friend, and to obtain that she wasn't above massacring everybody in her path.

"Athena! Stand back! We will handle her! Kanon, let's go!"

Following their resurrection Athena, trusting Helena's suggestion, had decided to allow the Gemini Cloth to be split once more, like it had been in the age of myth. That meant that, although very powerful on their own, the bearers of the Cloth, who had been twins since the age of myth, had to work together to really express the full potential of their constellation.

The golden light surrounding the Pope and his twin brother was soon matched by the other constellations activating the Cloths and soon all the thirteen Gold Saints stood proud in front of their Goddess, Cosmo crackling ready to be channelled in their most powerful attacks.

"Wow…Athena let me tell you! They really do make a stunning presentation! Tall, young, handsome, swathed in gold, my my…even the right amount of muscular! I almost envy you! How is a virgin Goddess supposed to remain unblemished with this amount of godlike perfection in front of her! On second thought, I really don't envy you! I would have caved a long time ago!"

The souls of the dead surrounded them all like a frightening blanket, but apart from giving the creeps to everybody present, they didn't do much damage to the crazed Goddess in front of them.

"I'll give you points for trying, boy! But your pathetic attack cannot move the soul of a deity!"

"Whoever said I wanted to move your soul? Aldebaran, now!"

Moving slightly out of the trajectory of one crazy bull, Death Mask smirked lightly at the obsessed woman in front of him. He had always known that his attacks wouldn't do any damage at all to her, but he had provided enough of a distraction for Taurus, and that was enough to satisfy him. He could always punch her in the face later on.

"Mmh…a raging bull…I have to hand it to you, Athena. You sure know how to make a good impression! But I'm sure you are aware that their pathetic attempts will not make much of a difference in the end, right? Except perhaps in how bloody their deaths will be!"

To Athena's unending horror, Eris proceeded then to move out of the way of Aldebaran's Great Horn, which coincidentally struck an unprepared Milo full force and that caused a domino reaction where all the attacks where somehow re-directed towards one of the Gold Saints instead than towards the Goddess of Discord.

Thankfully the Cloths, even though they had taken some damage during their last confrontation with Eris' soldiers, were whole enough to protect the Saints from the brunt of their own attacks – and Aioria was going to regret saying that roses could not deal any damage whatsoever – but the ominous cracking that Athena heard didn't bode very well for anybody.

Death Mask, who had been the only one withholding his attacks – trying to move the soul of a Goddess required concentration, silence and a very large dose of luck – forced his body to move through the cold numbness that had enveloped him – he wasn't going to mock Helena about being cold anymore! – and closing his hand into a fist he let it fly towards Eris in a last, desperate, attempt at stopping her.

He had never expected to succeed – he had just wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and not whimpering on the ground like a coward – and so when his fist actually connected with Eris' cheek he was so surprised that he completely forgot to protect himself from the enraged deity.

Deity who, after letting out a blood-curling scream of rage activated her own power well intent on burning the blasphemous idiot to a crisp.

Death Mask would never know if he had been very lucky or if he had been blessed with having a very powerful guardian angel, but it was Camus' previous attack that saved his life.

While all the other attacks had, one way or the other, smashed the Cloths into pieces, Aquarius had only covered Cancer's Cloth with a faint sheen of ice that, in case of a close ranged explosion, provided another layer of protection that slowed Eris' fire down enough as not to be fatal.

That did not mean that Death Mask didn't feel his skin burning, or his pain receptors firing up when a wave of indescribable pain hit them, but Camus' ice had given him, if properly and quickly treated, a fair chance at survival.

-Aphrodite…I am sorry… -

That idiot! If Aphrodite hadn't been busy himself with trying to survive the lion's lighting attack – the guardian of beauty didn't even want to begin imagining the state of his hair after being electrified – he would have loved to kill Death Mask with his very own two hands. Who, in the name of Athena, was so stupid as to attack a God with bare hands? The fact that Aphrodite had been ready to do the exact same thing a moment prior was completely ignored in favour of silently berating his reckless boyfriend.

While still trying to find his balance while still subjected to tiny aftershocks, Pisces could only spare a grateful thought to Athena who had hastily gone to where Death Mask had been unceremoniously tossed by an enraged Eris. While her Cosmo wasn't exactly built for healing, contrary to Ophiucus, it was still way better than what any of them, himself included, could have done, and that could be exactly what might save Mask's life.

Given that the last time someone had looked away from the fight Aphrodite himself had ended up dead, the rose warrior refocused himself on the battlefield, just in time to see Camus' ice wall cracking under the pressure of Eris' divine fire.

Despite Aquarius' best efforts to keep it up, his power, while exponentially large for any human being, was still very much useless against the limitless energy of a divinity.

With a last grunt of effort and the sharp cracking of the ice, the wall imploded sending Camus, and the hastily arrived Milo, crashing on a marble column, effectively excluding them both from the fight.

From that point on the fight lost any semblance of honour and became just a mindless slaughter: Aldebaran and Aioria were struck down next, nothing but their Cloths protecting them against the fire spitting Goddess of Discord.

Saga and Kanon, confirming once again their statuses as the strongest Saints in Sanctuary – after Helena – managed to inflict a tiny amount of damage to Eris' body before succumbing as well to a particularly malicious attack.

Shura's Excalibur split the earth in front of Aphrodite's eyes but even the bearer of the Sacred Sword soon fell, despite Aioros' last ditch effort to shield them both with the wings of his Cloth.

In front of Eris' deranged grin stood only the three Saints, apart from Aphrodite who miraculously hadn't been targeted yet, who had the Cosmo or the Cloth necessary to make a decent shield for themselves.

But even as Shaka's Tenbu Horin mixed with Mu's Starlight Extinction soared through the air on the Rozan Dragons' back, Dite just knew those attacks wouldn't put even a scratch on their enemy's body.

Like a bad horror movie the Pisces Saint watched, unable to do anything else, as his three comrades were engulfed by black fire and sent flying backwards towards the walls.

In the eerily quiet room, when those crazy eyes locked on him, Pisces no Aphrodite realized that he had been spared. For what purpose it was still unclear to him, but it hadn't been just luck that had kept him from being hit.

With this realization it came also the knowledge that he was the only one who could still protect their Goddess and, where once this thought would have instilled terror in his heart, in that moment the only thing that Aphrodite really felt was the unshakable need to protect the young girl who was his Goddess and that need bolstered his courage.

Covering quickly the distance separating him from his Goddess, who amidst all that chaos was still kneeling next to Death Mask, Aphrodite crouched low in front of her, materializing a red rose in his hand, ready to throw it at the slightest chance.

"You know, pretty kitten, there is no need for you to fear me. I will not kill your precious Athena, it would be counterproductive for my plan at best, and I have no intention to kill you as well…"

_That_ threw him for a loop. What did Eris want with him? Why was she keeping him, of all people, alive?

Against everything his instincts were screaming at him to do, he felt himself asking a question.

"Why would you want to keep me alive?"

"To be my pet, of course! Why else did you think I wanted you for? You stunning good looks will go very well with the other pieces of my collection!"

Aphrodite knew he should have just ignored the jibe. He should have risen himself above it, tried to imitate Shaka and his detachment from the world, but Eris' words had awakened a fear he had thought long buried and forgotten. He had a brief flashback of another woman saying the same thing, warping his mind and his personality until he was no more than a mere doll in her hands. It had taken him years to get out of that mind frame and it had been only thanks to Helena's relentless spirit that he had managed to find all the broken pieces of his self and put them together.

And now, when Eris threatened to do exactly the same thing Helena had saved him from, Aphrodite knew he wasn't going to take it.

Throwing all caution to the wind, and ignoring the fact that he was going to leave his Goddess very much unprotected, he started running forward, ready to smash Eris in the face.

Which he really managed to do, since she had not been expecting it, but that had been the extent of his luck because, the Goddess of Discord's retaliation had been swift in coming and ruthless in its delivery.

Saori watched helplessly as her last Saint standing was mercilessly thrown away like a rag doll not to struggle back to his feet once again.

"Now it's just you and me, dear Athena…what will you do now?"

It's a testament of just how much time Saori has spent around Helena that the first thing that crosses her mind is to pick up her trustworthy sceptre and hurl a blade of Cosmo towards Eris.

"My my…you are feisty in this reincarnation, are you not? Maybe it's all the time spent around that despicable girl…I always thought she would be your ruin…"

"Don't you dare insult Helena ever again! You aren't even worthy enough to speak about her! Leave us alone, Eris! Leave before I make you regret staying!"

"Then show me regret, Athena!"

And with that last remark the Goddess of Discord charged forward, black fire coming from her outstretched hands.

It was a scary thing to behold, but Saori hadn't trained with Helena for more than ten years to be stopped by something so trivial as a little bit of fire. She hadn't survived more assassination attempts that she could count, just to be discouraged by another enemy. She hadn't faced her scariest fear to be brought down but such a pathetic display, after all when a deranged Cancer holds you by your neck in a claw made of Cosmo, while laughing maniacally, everything else looks tame in comparison.

Athena dodged, and parried, and sent her own attacks flying. She used every trick in her books, every lesson Helena had so painstakingly carved into her mind and her body. And while she managed to keep Eris on her toes, the Goddess of Justice could see that it wasn't going to be enough to win the fight.

She was still human while Eris had appeared in front of them with her mythological body, and the difference in power wielding and endurance was painfully starting to show.

A particular strong blow managed to offset her balance and sent her flying, hitting the throne so hard that she lost her grip on her staff.

"I gave you every chance I could and then even some more! I have been patient, I have watched you befriend these lowlifes, laugh with them, cry for them, being betrayed by them! And yet you still choose to protect them! You still prefer them over my, one of your own brethren! You call sister one of those filthy mortals, and you deny me, the one who has the same blood you have in her veins! I have been far more indulgent with you, than I have ever been with anybody else! Now it's time for my revenge! I will do now what I had failed to do then! Good riddance, Athena!"

Knowing that the end was right in front of her, and that no help was going to come anymore, Saori closed her eyes, painfully aware that her life was about to be over for good. She supposed that, as Athena, she would simply have to reincarnate – it would take time, but she could do it – but her life as Saori Kido was at the end of the line.

-Helena, guys…I am sorry… -

She faintly heard the slight whooshing sound of a blade slicing through the air, but before it could make an impact on her, a clank resounded in the otherwise silent room.

"Did you miss me?"


	40. Separati

"Did you miss me?"

"Helena? What are you doing here? You are supposed to be enjoying marital bliss and your newfound freedom!"

"If I didn't know you any better, Saori, I'd think you aren't happy to see me at all!"

Upon seeing Saori's eyes growing bigger once her words registered fully, Helena couldn't help but chuckle lightly to herself. She had no idea how much time had really passed on Earth – she had spent almost three months in Hades, almost all of them, in what Saori had called _marital bliss_ – but judging from her friend's remark, Helena could guess that for her brothers it had been sensibly less time, a fact for which the Ophiucus Saint could not help but be thankful.

"Relax, oh Goddess of mine! I'm jesting! What happened here? Have you forgotten how to laugh?"

But before Saori had any change to reply to what had obviously been a joking question, with a somewhat bitter answer, somebody else beat her to the punch.

"Aren't you forgetting something, dear Elpida?"

"Who the heck are you calling Elpida, you old hag?"

With a move born out of years of practice with Shura and his Excalibur, Helena disengaged her arm-guards from Eris' sword and, at the same time, activated her own version of Excalibur – given that Athena had forged only one Sacred Sword, Helena had had to learn how to properly channel her Cosmo into something that only resembled Excalibur – sending a crescent-shaped burst of Cosmo towards the Goddess of Discord.

At the same time, without even pausing for breath, Helena whirled around, grabbed Saori – who in the meantime had managed to take a hold on her sceptre once again – by an arm, and activating her teleportation moved them on the balcony outside the room, as far away as possible from her fallen brothers, but not so in the open as to damage the rest of Sanctuary.

\- We need to keep the damage contained somehow, Saori! There would be no telling what consequences it could cause on our future if the Gold Saints of this era were involved in this fight more than they already were! –

\- I know Helena! That's why I put up a barrier around the room so that Sage and the others will not be able to discern what is happening now…-

That had been surprisingly good thinking on Saori's part; not that her best friend was a bad strategist, you couldn't be one as such when you were the hosting body of the Goddess of War, but even a veteran like herself would have been hard pressed about protecting the time-continuum in the middle of a battle.

"Are you quite done trying to flee from me, girl?"

Only the fact that she had spent half her prepubescent years learning how to put up a barrier at light speed, saved Helena from having her head chopped off when Eris' Cosmo soared through the air and ended up cleaving neatly in two one of the statues on the balcony.

"Rumble of the Basilisk!"

At once Helena's trusted golden snakes sprouted from the earth, all directed towards her enemy who, unfortunately, was able to dodge them all with a relative amount of ease.

-Right…she's a Goddess in her mythological body…how do we do this Master? –

When only silence answered her, Helena felt the first prickling of worry coming to life. It wasn't unusual for her Cloth to deny her an answer, but this had been the first time it had ever happened during a fight.

"Helena! Not even my power alone is enough to fight her! The fact that I am using a human vessel puts me at a disadvantage! We need to fight together if we want to prevail!"

Fight together? On any other day, the newly recovered Ophiucus Saint would have been thrilled to have the possibility to fight with her Goddess on an equal level, but with an adversary such as Eris, who was on a skill level so higher than theirs that it was almost impossible to beat, Helena couldn't really even begin to entertain the concept of putting her Goddess on the field.

"No, Athena! I cannot let you fight! Eris' power is so vast that I have no guarantee that I can protect you, and I definitely cannot risk your safety on this! Please, please, stay out of this! I'll deal with her, somehow!"

"Oh yes, Athena! Listen to your precious little human! After all she is more than right! At this moment there is nothing you can do to stop me, not even if you combine all your efforts together…but here's an idea! Why don't we level the field a bit? After all I can always kill you both later…let's see if your trusted _sister_ can entertain me!"

Helena didn't need to have the honed instincts of a warrior to know that those words meant a lot of trouble. And almost too soon she was proved exactly right.

"What the…"

Looking in the same direction where Athena was facing – and from where there seemed to be a bright light coming towards them – Helena couldn't contain the violent swearing that seemed to want to get out of her mouth.

Amidst her swearing and Eris' maniacal cackling, they almost missed the ominous clanking made by a person walking towards them, wearing some sort of armour.

When the light finally died down it revealed the lone figure of a young man, probably not much older than twenty, of medium built and medium height, wearing a full body armour of the same sickly purple that characterized all the Erisians.

Knowing not to underestimate neither his size – he definitely wasn't a big man – nor his armour – for all that it was full body, it didn't look particularly threatening – since she was the living example of a ruthless power contained in an unassuming vessel, Helena powered up her defences while waiting for her enemy to make the first move.

"Shall I introduced you two? After all it is only polite to know the name of the person you are to engage in mortal combat with, right?"

Without even waiting for an answer, Eris waved her hand in the direction of the newcomer.

"So…this is the General of my Armada, the first of the Erisians, my right-hand man… I think you got the basic concept, right? Ah yes! His name is Kayne of Envious Star!"

Envious Star? Helena really hoped that Eris hadn't had the very bad idea of gifting her generals with traits of the seven deadly sins, otherwise things were going to be very very complicated.

"Ah, I forgot to mention…he my favourite pet at the moment and he really has to thank your precious doll for his refusal, otherwise I would have happily traded him!"

Aphrodite? What was Eris talking about? Had she tried anything?

\- Eris offered Aphrodite a place in her _collection_, but Dite categorically refused! I have never seen him so shaken by something like this…what happened to him, Helena? –

Helena knew very well what had happened to make Dite react the way he had – and she was secretly pleased that her brother had refused the offer, although it seemed that some damage had been inflicted – but that moment was definitely not the right one to talk about it.

\- I will tell you later, Athena! I don't think now is the time! –

Refocusing on the enemy in front of her, without waiting for an actual answer from her Goddess, Helena tried to call the Master one more time.

\- Master! Please answer me! Where are you? What happened? Why aren't you answering me?-

Each time her calling was denied an answer from her Cloth, a bit more dread was added to the already big pile that was already knotting Helena's stomach.

"Oh…right! Did I forget to mention it? Ups…my bad…"

The sickly sweet tone of voice used by Eris instantly put Helena on high alert, but it was what the Goddess said next that solidified every fear that the young girl had been desperately trying to keep at bay.

"Aren't you missing someone, dear girl?"

Contrary to everything her brothers had always told her – never to let your enemy know exactly how much he or she had shaken you – Helena couldn't help the jolt rocking her frame at Eris' words. How in the world had she known that the Master wasn't answering her summons? And worse, if she knew, what had she done to him?

"Helena, what the hell is she talking about?"

"Oh…she hasn't told you, yet dear Athena? Naughty, naughty girl! Shall I tell her, or do you want to do the honours?"

"The Master isn't answering my summons, Athena…he has been unresponsive since the start of the fight…Now I wonder if she has anything to do with it!"

"Of course I have _everything_ to do with it, pitiful creature! I just couldn't believe it when I found out that his soul is as appetizing as it was so many eons ago! So full of angst, and despair, and doubts! Oh so many doubts. He is screaming: _can I trust them? Will they betray me again? They are my family! But they didn't hesitate in mocking me, belittling me the first time…Did something change? Will it be enough?_ And my absolute favourite: _when will Helena betray me, _again?"

No! It could not be happening! Helena, when her soul still belonged to Elpida, had already undergone the painful process of the Master's hatred and suspicion. At that time she had even excused him: she had just been a young healer in the village that the Snake Master often visited, no more no less. The Master might have held her in some regard, but it's not like they had shared everything. They had been very good acquaintances, one might have called them distant friends, but no more than that. But as Helena, that was no longer true!

They had shared much more than a couple of experiences. They had shared a lifetime together! They were _soul-bonded_ for crying out loud! The Master should know that she wasn't going to betray him! She couldn't as well as didn't want to!

And since Helena trusted the Master with her life, what Eris had told them meant only one thing: whatever the Ophiucus Cloth was going through had been the Goddess of Discord's fault.

"What have you done to him, Eris? What kind of trick did you employ to make him doubt even what he knows never to doubt? Leave him alone! You have done enough damage to his soul that time, I will not allow you to ruin his life a second time!"

"Be careful of who exactly you are accusing, bitch! I haven't done _anything_ to your precious Healer! I simply gave him a little push here and a small pull there, but you cannot fault me if his soul was ripe for the picking! Whatever happened to him so long ago, and what is happening to him now, is your fault, not mine! I wasn't the one who betrayed him, belittled him, didn't understand him! For that you have only yourselves to blame! If anything I was the only one to understand him! You should be grateful to me, brat! If you really care about that man as much as you loudly claim, you should be very grateful to me, for the kindness and understanding I showed him!"

Kindness and understanding? Helena couldn't believe what she was hearing! If the young Saint had had any doubts about Eris' mental stability before, the last tirade had cleared all the doubts? How was it possible that she could consider Eris of all people, the Master's saviour?

"You have no right to tell me this! You haven't helped the Master! You have destroyed his life! Your poisonous words were the ones that broke everything! How in Hell am I supposed to be grateful for that?"

Helena had expected another shouting match, but she was rather taken aback when Eris simply chuckled mysteriously in front of her.

"Well…if you are so sure about what you said, about it all being my fault and that, if left alone your precious Master would not come to the same conclusions, I propose you a bet…"

Helena knew she was supposed to refuse, to rise above the challenge and attack her enemy directly, but maybe because she wanted to be proved right as much as she wanted to prove Eris wrong, maybe because she needed assurance that the good man she had always seen the Master to be, was real, she found herself nodding to Eris to continue, ignoring the outraged shout coming from Athena.

"At the moment your precious Healer is wondering in a dimension parallel to this one, where every one of his worst nightmares has come true. The only way he can get out of there is giving his trust to one of you, believing that that person cannot betray him. If he can do that than I will let him return to you…"

Where exactly was the scam?

"Oh…one last thing: I will not postpone your duel while we wait for him to come to a decision and as a show of your trust in him, you will fight without your Cloth! You can have it back if he makes it out of his prison, of course!"

There it was, the scam, what Death Mask would have called the _fregatura_! Fighting without her Cloth wasn't really a new experience for Helena. After all the Master was known around Sanctuary to only unlock the Cloth in front of the toughest of enemies; unfortunately, the one in front of her looked like he really belonged to that category, if the low hum of Cosmo he was projecting was anything to go by.

"What if I say no, Eris…what happens then?"

"Well…nothing at all dear girl! You get to keep your pathetic scrap of metal during your fight…but you will never see your precious Healer again…"

A soulless Cloth…that's exactly what Eris was proposing her. It wasn't as if the future Ophiucus Saints would suffer from her decision: the Healer's Cloth would simply be like any other Cloth in Sanctuary, with the exceptions of the Gold ones. An armour powered by Cosmo, but a simple piece of metal under any other aspect.

It wouldn't hinder the Saint's performance in battle, but if Helena chose to fight with the Cloth in that very moment she was going to lose the Snake Master forever.

In that moment the raven haired girl really understood what Eris was truly saying: it was a simple matter of trust. Did Helena trust the Snake Master enough to take the risk?

Knowing that no amount of trust could be expected if nothing was given in return, Helena closed her eyes and powered down her Cosmo, enough that the pieces of her Cloth disengaged from her body to reform as a snake next to a stunned Athena.

"Helena…what the hell?"

"Lady Athena, will you trust me?"

It was the crux of the matter, the most important question in the universe. Would her Goddess really trust her?

Helena could almost see the cogs whirring behind the green eyes of the Goddess of Justice, analysing every move, every strategy, trying to figure out a way out of that mess. But Helena knew there wasn't one. Not if she really wanted to save the Snake Master.

"Saori…please…"

"Helena…I…"

The young healer closed her eyes, ready to disobey whatever order was going to come from the one being she had sworn to cherish, obey and protect.

"Oh fine, you idiot! I trust you! I trust you and the Master! Just…be careful, ok?"

Eyes wide in shock, for a moment Helena could do nothing more than gape at Athena like the idiots she had always taken so much fun in despising, but when the words finally registered in her mind, her grin turned just a shade too feral to be really comforting and she kneeled in front of her long time sworn enemy, turned most important ally.

"You know I am always careful!"

Chuckling slightly at Saori's exasperated sigh, Helena turned back to her adversary, who still hadn't moved even an inch from the spot in which he had appeared, and readied herself for one of the most difficult battles she had ever had to face.

"Well then, boyo! Show me what you got!"


	41. Io mi fido di te

The mist was really starting to get on his nerves. Given that he had grown up on the sunny Greek seaside where the sun was one of the few constants in life, this foggy atmosphere was starting to make him feel constricted, like he was somehow breathing water.

There was also a strange feeling in his chest, like he had somehow swallowed a ton of lead, and he had a nagging feeling in his head that was telling him that he was forgetting something very important. But much like this mist, those fleeting thoughts were ineffable, always squishing out of his grip every time he was getting closer to grab them.

He had no idea how long he had been walking around and what was worse he suspected he was walking in circles. Truth to be told, he didn't even have a clue about _where_ he was.

The Snake Master supposed he should count himself lucky enough to remember at least his identity and his very loud, very extended, very obnoxious family but, somehow, even those memories seemed – if not faked – at the very least missing something.

_"__Let me go! For the love of everything you have ever believed in, brother, let me GO!"_

What the hell was that? The mist had solidified enough to create figures, shapes of a man bearing an uncanny resemblance with his brother trying to stop another man, this time looking a lot like himself, from running down the stairs at a breakneck speed.

_"__Please, please…don't die! Do you hear me? Don't you dare die on me, girl! Don't you dare!"_

Another scene, always his voice, always him screaming, shamelessly begging. This time the mist changed its colour, turning bloody red, the very same shade of blood and fire. He saw a village, but what his eyes focused on wasn't the thick, black smoke coming from more than half the buildings; no, he focused on the carnage depicted with startling clarity in the misty image in front of him. Men, women, old people and _children_. And the Master saw himself, again, this time cradling the broken body of a young girl in his arms.

"_You betrayed me! How could you? Why did you side with them? After all they had done to you? After they let your village burn, your parents die! After they almost let _you_ die! How could you?"_

The same girl who in the previous image was dying in his arms, was now looking at his mist image with big, sad and innocent eyes, trying to convey without words how much she loved him, and cherished him, and how it was impossible that she had betrayed him.

_"__Come with me, Master! Leave them behind…they have betrayed you, scorned you, belittled you…even the one for whom you sacrificed everything has allied herself with your enemies. Your Goddess lied and cheated and you were the final price of her unholy gamble. Come with me! I will not treat you so poorly, I will never lie to you! I will cherish you in the way you ought to be cherished! Come…"_

While all the other images had seemed blurry and soft-edged, coming out from the mist like they were, this last one had something more _defined _in it.

The Snake Master did not know what it was, but the beautiful woman in front on him seemed _real_ as opposed to the dream-like quality of the other apparitions.

The fact that she had chuckled at his, most probably, dumbstruck face only cemented what he already knew: the woman was real, and she was there with him.

"You always had a knack for surprising me, Master! I didn't think it would take you such a short time to differentiate between dreams and reality, but I cannot say I am disappointed! Far from it! You perceptiveness will never cease to astound me!"

The words seemed innocent enough; a sort of a backhand compliment, yes, but it was a compliment.

The smile seemed genuine, her entire demeanour non-threatening and alluring, but the Master could not help but feel that something was very wrong in that ensemble.

But, once again, those thoughts fled like dew under the sun when the woman in front of him flashed him a pearly-white smile.

"Do you remember now? Have you finally figured out what happened so many eons ago? What they did to you?"

As soon as the mystery woman had stopped talking, the Master was assaulted by a myriad of forgotten memories at once.

He saw his Goddess refusing his request; his brother carelessly condemning a village of innocents to death; his friends choosing to save their own pathetic hides instead than protect the ones who really needed protection.

He saw the very same girl he had tried to protect, turning her back at him, deciding to side with his enemies, betraying his trust and his love. And then he saw the battle in which they had all perished; he saw his brothers and sisters in arms power up their most devastating attacks just to hit him.

"I remember…"

The squeal of glee that came from the ethereal being in front of him sounded like another warning bell in his mind, but as much as he was trying to connect the dots, he had a feeling that the most important piece of information was eluding him like a bar of soap in the shower.

"Would you like to exact your revenge on them, dear Master? After all, you know what they say: _an eye for an eye_! So, you changing sides for their betrayal. I think it's a fair trade, don't you think?"

Somehow she was plying him with her sweet words and her unassuming posture, and much to his dismay, the Master found that he was unable to resist her. And worse, he was forgetting fast the reason why he really should resist her.

"Come, my dear Ophiucus Saint…Come with me and I will give you the world!"

Taking her extended hand in his, the Master allowed the mysterious woman to guide him towards whatever destination she had in mind.

But, as soon as he started moving, something fell out of his pocket directly in front of him. From what he could see, it was a piece of paper, neatly folded in four; given that it had been folded to preserve whatever content inside, the Master bent down to pick it up and unfolded it to see what was inside.

As soon as the last fold was opened he gasped and almost launched the piece of paper as far away from him as possible.

It couldn't be…how did forget? How could he have been so stupid as to let go of something like _that_!

Vaguely alarmed by the strangled gasp that had come from the Ophiucus Saint, the woman had stopped and turned around to see what the commotion was about.

As soon as she spotted the piece of paper, innocently lying on the floor, she released a high pitched scream and dove forward, ready to snatch up the offending sheet and burn it to a crisp.

Seemingly reading her thoughts, or simply deducing her intent when she pounced, the Snake Master quickly snatched away the paper, cradling it possessively on his chest.

"Liar! You lied to me! You made me forget them, forget _her!_ I will kill you for this!"

"Why every single one of you thinks _I_ am the one responsible for all of this mess? I didn't make you forget! You did that entirely on your own! I might have brought you here Snake Master, but I sure as hell didn't erase any of your memories! You chose to do that on your own accord!"

What did she mean, he _chose_ to forget? Surely that was another trick employed by Eris – he had finally realized why the mysterious woman had been so achingly familiar – to confuse him, to destabilize him, to force him to betray his Goddess once more.

And yet, he hadn't sensed deceit in her last sentence and he could feel nothing external in his Cosmo, no foreign pull indicating the manipulation of another entity.

As much as he was loathe to admit it, Eris had been right. She had brought him in that forsaken world of fog and haziness, but she hadn't made him forget about the modern Gold Saints and his precious host. And the same could be said for his past betrayal: sure, she had pushed and prodded, but he had developed those feelings entirely on his own. He had taken the cowardly way out too many times, but in that moment Ophiucus decided to run no more; he decided to own his feelings for what they were worth, the good ones and, more importantly, the bad ones.

_Traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor…_

Like the souls of the dead that the Cancer Saint usually summoned, every known face suddenly materialized in front of him, whispering that one cursed word over and over again.

_Traitor_, that was what he was! He had betrayed his Goddess, his family, his friends, Elpida and then he had betrayed her again when she had reincarnated herself as Helena, to save him, to redeem his pathetic soul.

Mouth open in a soundless cry, the Snake Master fell to his knees, eyes pinched shut and hands pressing down on his ears, in a futile effort at shielding himself from the onslaught of guilt coming from the ghostly images of his family.

He wasn't going to get out of there alive, and maybe that was exactly what he had been hoping for: a painful death, a way to atone for all the sins he had committed in all of his long life. But when he opened his eyes just a crack, he was met with the same piece of paper that had brought his memory back. It was a drawing, even though the artist could never be mistaken for the new Monet. It depicted three people in it: a young girl surrounded by two boys, so different from each other like day and night. And then, slightly above them, there were three other figures, once again two men and a woman. They looked ethereal, like guardian angels, one for each of the children below. The two boys and their angels, a man and the woman, looked eerily similar, same scowl for one and slight smirk for the other. But it was on the figure of the young girl that the Master appointed his eyes. She was the only one in the picture to look towards her guardian angel, soft smile on her baby face and one hand slightly extended toward his towering figure, in the universal gesture of inclusion.

The Master could never forget the moment when a very young Helena had given him that picture: it had been their second meeting, the night in which the nine year old had finally been granted her Cloth. The ceremony had been kept a secret, of course, and only that damned Pope and her Guardians were in attendance – years later the Master still regretted not having been able to have a proper ceremony for Helena – and, even though, she had only seen him almost two years prior, she had greeted him more like a long lost big brother, than like the stranger he was supposed to be. She had gifted him the drawing that night. He had extended his stay in the mortal world to teach her a couple of things about the Cloth and its powers and in a moment of quiet she had shyly approached him with the piece of paper in her tiny hands.

She had almost thrust the paper in his hands just before fleeing the room entirely, too scared of his reaction to really stay and see it.

He remembered being at a loss about what had happened and his frustration had almost made him toss the paper without looking at it. But then, much like it had happened mere moments ago, the innocent piece of paper had caught his eyes and he had found himself speechless.

She had depicted all six of them, all intertwined and connected by a gold line. But it was what she had written on the top of the paper that had him choke on the tears he hadn't shed in more than two millennia: _families_, she had written, plural not singular. Two families. How she had known that, he had never understood – even though the retelling of the story had shed some much needed light on various episodes over the years – but she had understood that the Ophiucus, Cancer and Pisces Cloths, were bonded, were _families_.

_I trust you, Master! You are not a traitor! Come back, please! Come back to me! Come back to us!_

Whispers of _come back_ started drowning every other noise around him, giving him the chance to finally catch his breath.

Realizing he had been granted a reprieve, the Master clutched the drawing in his hand harder, like it somehow could draw strength from it – and knowing the brat like he did, it wasn't that far-fetched – and looked around trying to find the Goddess of Discord amidst all the wreckage.

"Eris! Come out and face me!"

A throaty chuckle to his left alerted him that she was closer than he was more comfortable with.

"Mmmh…who would have thought the brat was right…Master, you have the power to surprise me at every turn!"

The brat? Helena? What did Eris mean? What had she done to Helena?

"You have grown up to be quite the protector Master, haven't you?"

Apparently he had said that out loud.

"I did nothing to Helena, or better yet, nothing that she didn't consent to…you know, for a puny human this one has got fire in her, that much I can concede!"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"Sooo angry, Master…you know it cannot be good for your health!"

To hell with his health! He would gladly sacrifice everything he had if he could protect Helena one second more! He swiftly released a burst of Cosmo aimed towards Eris, hoping to somehow speed up the clarification he was waiting for.

"My, my, such rude manners! Oh well…since you have so insisted I'll tell you: let's just say I made a little bet, with your precious host. I might have told her that she could have your soul back if she faced my precious little soldier without Cloth…"

What? Why? How did _that _happen? Why had Helena chosen to divest herself of her only protection?

"I may have implied that, had she not done so, your soul would have been lost to her forever, and that, of course, you were going to be given back once you had figured out that you trusted her…I might have lied…ups…my bad!"

-Helena! Can you hear me? You stupid idiot! How could you think something like this? How could you trust so easily the Goddess of Discord? And even if she had wanted to give my soul back, how could you? Why did you sacrifice yourself for me? –

"I'm sorry Master, but she cannot hear you…your connection is effectively severed…but I can answer you one of your questions: she decided to accept the gamble because she trusted _you_, to know which ones were the lies and which the truth. She knew that trust needs to be earned and she wanted to show you that you had her trust by actually trusting you to make the right choice! Stupid, don't you think?"

"No, Eris…not stupid! Selfless, brave, worthy, maybe naïve, but never stupid! Helena isn't like that! Somehow I have earned myself her trust, and while I might bitch about everything and everyone, I will not allow that trust to go to waste! I may not understand why she trusts me so, but I'll be damned if I will not reciprocate it with everything I have! So prepare yourself, Eris! I am going to help her, to protect her, and to do so I am going to get out of here, whether you like it or not!"

"Your dreams of heroic deeds and friendship and love are a credit for your soul, Snake Master, but I will shatter every single one of them, and then I will destroy you!"

Reading his stance to unleash his attacks – something he hadn't done in almost two millennia – the Snake Master steeled himself for the fight ahead. He knew he was at a disadvantage, but he also knew that he did not need to crush his opponent; what he needed was an opening, a moment of distraction when he could slip by undetected and re-join his host in the mortal world.

With a feral smile he charged his fist.

"Bring it on, Eris!"


	42. Bentornata a casa!

After another very narrow dodge of a blade of Cosmo directed towards her, Helena started to think that maybe, just maybe, she had overestimated herself this time and she had bitten off more than she could chew.

While she had never been a stranger to a whole sleuth of opponents who had been stronger, faster, more cunning than her – after all she had been brought up by an evil mastermind who had taught her how to bring powerful men to their knees – Helena instinctively knew that this battle, this opponent, was very different from the ones she had faced in the past.

She had faced crazy men, misguided men, power-hungry gods, assassins, friends and family and even possessed people who, after she had defeated them and freed them from whatever entity was in control, hadn't remembered a thing. She had battled a variety of opponents, who all had one thing in common with each other: their emotions.

The one she was locked in combat with in that very moment was as emotionless as a clay statue and that was most probably his most dangerous trait.

Helena had been taught how to read her enemies emotions from a very young age: she had learnt how to spot them, how to read them and how to use them to her advantage. She had also been well taught - in long, boring hours seated on the cold marble of the Sixth Temple – how to shut away her own emotions in order to become a ruthless killing machine; but knowing and effectively becoming one were two different things altogether and, while Helena knew how to get rid of her emotions, she never really liked doing it, not liking the mindless beast she became.

But personal preferences aside, in that particular case, the Ophiucus Saint knew exactly what damage an enemy without emotion could inflict, and how little there was she could use to turn him against himself.

Moreover she was fighting without the Cloth, and so she had to expend a great portion of her Cosmo into a full time defensive technique because, while Mu had always preached about not letting the Cloth take a blow one could otherwise prevent, it was, at the very least, a last protection in case her barriers failed.

Chancing a glance towards the inside of the Throne Room, where the other Gold Saints still lay, Helena was forced to swallow back down the hope that at least one of them had regained enough consciousness to help her in the fight. She knew she was being selfish – after all they had almost perished in their earlier battle against Eris - but she had relied on the Master's constant presence for so long that, even just his absence made her feel off balance.

"Helena, behind you!"

"Crystal Wall!"

Too close. Her opponent's blow had been far too close for comfort and it had only been Athena's providential yell that had saved Helena's life.

Still protected by Aries' defence, Helena stood still for a moment, taking stock of her situation and trying to come up with a good plan which should involve some offence of her own, instead than just plain survival.

"Tsk, tsk…what a disappointment you are, young Helena! I was led to believe that you were Sanctuary's finest warrior, but apparently they were just rumours! You have relied on your Cloth and on your _family_ for far too long, and now you have no idea how to fight by yourself!"

Complete opposite to her own warrior – who hadn't said a word to her since the moment of his apparition, not even to launch his attacks – Eris talked way too much, and even though Helena wanted to forget her words, she couldn't help but feeling that they were, at least partially, very true.

While she had always been a solitary warrior – a necessary trait to living incognito among the other Gold Saints – under Arles' management and then after the death of everybody in Elysium, in the almost three years since everybody's resurrection, Helena had started to rely more and more on the others, until the moment in which her solo missions were just a distant memory.

Since this was what she had always envisioned Sanctuary to be – her memories of the Master's tales when she was still Elpida, helped painting that image in her head – she had never looked back with longing, positive that, whatever happened, she would never fight alone again.

Looking back now, Helena mused that she had been a tad overenthusiastic about the future – necessary trait for a human being, very inconvenient when you were a Saint of Athena – and she vowed to take the necessary precautions when she finally managed to resolve the situation.

With a practised eye, the young healer valued her options: she could remain still in a defensive position while waiting for the Master to realize that she had always been on his side – Athena knew she had more than enough Cosmo to support one of her many defensive techniques for as long as it was needed – or she could try to attack the Erisian, trying to figure out a way to break the wall that was the man in front of her.

If she had been raised by anybody else, maybe Helena would have taken the safe choice and she would have stayed behind the protection of her barrier, but her primary caretaker had been Death Mask a man whose favourite saying was: _La fortuna sorride agli audaci_ (Fortune favours the bold); she could not exactly stay still and hope for the best, she would have to do her teacher proud!

A small part of her reminded that Death Mask would be suitably horrified that she had decided to take such a huge risk without her Cloth, but Helena decided to ignore that part of her brain in that moment.

With half her concentration in her barrier, she could only use half her power to attack the Erisian, but this didn't dissuade her from punching her right fist into the ground releasing her Cosmo.

"Rumble of the Basilisk!"

The breath she had been unconsciously holding since the Master disappearance was suddenly released when Helena had proof that her missing connection with her Cloth didn't hinder her attacks.

Smirking slightly to herself she watched as her trusted golden snakes started to close in on her adversary, knowing full well that, while this wasn't her most powerful attack in her arsenal, very few people had managed to escape her snakes unscathed.

But to her unending horror, Kayne managed to do exactly that. With a speed that far surpassed that of the light, the silent Erisian dodged every single one of her snakes and, if her eyes weren't deceiving her, without sweating too much too!

It had been years since someone had managed to do exactly that, and given the fact that the last one had been of divine origins, Helena really couldn't figure out how Kayne had managed to do that; the thought of him being a god, or at the very least a demi-god, brought acrid bile into her throat. If that notion was true, than they all were in far deeper shit that she had previously imagined.

Too busy gawking at her adversary Helena missed the flash of silver – she would later discover he used a hammer as a weapon – before it smashed onto the ground and form the same crack on the marble from which her snakes had come, many spears of rock suddenly sprung forward.

The trusted barrier of the Aries Saints did nothing to prevent the spears from crushing it and hitting the Ophiucus Saint in the meantime.

Catapulted a good five meters behind, Helena could only gasp trying to regain her breath, when her back painfully collided on the unforgiving marble of the terrace and a spray of blood surged from the holes in her body that the spears had carved.

"Helena!"

With black spots in her vision, Helena knew she couldn't properly respond to her Goddess' panicked voice nor she could do much more than stare dumbly at the giant rock hand that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

Faced with her impending demise after being flattened by the palm of the hand that was currently hanging over her head, Helena simply closed her eyes, suddenly tired of all the fighting.

She felt the slimy hands of envy penetrating her body: why couldn't she be like any other girl? Why did Athena have to choose her of all people to bring her dream to completion? For once in her life Helena wanted what every other girl on the planet seemed to have: a normal life where the only worry would be not having enough clothes to go out every night wearing a different attire.

For all that she had never cared about being a normal girl before, in that moment Helena felt an all-consuming envy for those silly, shallow girls whose life she so wanted.

"Helena, RUN!"

The raven haired girl was dimly aware of the fact that Athena was telling her to move, to save herself. The only thing she was aware of was the burning envy she suddenly had started to feel regarding her Goddess' life as well. Why couldn't she have had the same life? A loving grandfather, an adoring gaggle of strapping young men, hell-bent on pleasing her at every turn; why had she been the one with such a miserable life? It wasn't fair! It wasn't just! She needed to do something about this! Maybe she could _eliminate…_

As soon as Helena thought about _that_, all her thought process came to a screeching halt; _eliminate?_ _Kill Athena?_

What on earth was she thinking about? Why in the world had she started making plans about her best friend's sudden demise at her hands?

When she finally locked her lilac eyes with the crystalline lakes that were her Goddess', Helena's head finally cleared.

With clarity of thoughts, though, came also the rushing panic. She had thought about killing her Goddess, killing her best friend. No, she had more than thought about it: judging from the very faint traces of Cosmo on her hands, Saori had been this close to be skinned alive by the Ophiucus' venomous attack.

No, no, no, no, no…

How in the name of sanity had that happened? Why did she transform into a female version of Arles? What had happened? Could it be…

"I see you have figured out the trick, brat! I may not like you, but I have to give you praise for your observance! Not many would have noticed the subtle invasion of their consciousness or had any possibility of stopping it…"

"Helena, what is happening?"

Helena could feel Athena approaching and instinctively she scooted back a bit, trying to put as much distance as possible between her and the Goddess. With how things were in that moment, she couldn't really trust herself not to succumb to the Erisian's power and attack Athena.

"Do you know, dear Athena, that your precious sister was on the verge of attacking you? You should have heard what she was thinking…_I envy Saori! She has everything I ever wanted, why don't I kill her and take her place?_"

"Wh..what? Helena? What is she saying?"

"Oh, don't worry Goddess of Justice! You should cut her some slack! After all she could hardly be blamed for her actions when it was somebody else who was in control, right Helena?"

The fact that Eris wasn't even trying to conceal a powerful yet mostly undetected method of attack like Kayne's, worried Helena more than she liked: what more could the Goddess of Discord have in store if she was treating this attack like a mere parlour trick?

"I don't know how, Athena, but the Erisian can manipulate envy and he can, apparently, rise the level of enviousness inside of a person, thus making this person act based on that impulse!"

"Once again, brat, you managed to surprise me! Not many people had the guts to admit to themselves that my precious little pet doesn't actually create envy out of thin air, but he simply boosts whatever feeling you have inside of you, just like _I_ do…"

Yeah, well…not everybody had had to endure Shaka and his midnight lessons in self-awareness and self-truth for more than a decade. Suddenly Helena found herself grateful for the time that the blonde had dedicated to her education, not that she was ever going to tell that to him, lest he decided to continue with their lessons.

"It is a real pity, dear Healer…I so wanted to see your tearful reunion with your precious Master, but alas keeping you alive for my entertainment isn't exactly worth it anymore! I will have to settle for watching you die in the most painful way possible…Kayne! Crush her!"

Before Helena had any time to react, the gigantic stone hand overhead moved at a speed that the young healer had never thought possible for such a big lump of rock, and she found herself trapped into a stone palm that was slowly squeezing the life out of her lungs.

Regardless of the ominous cracking sounds that every bone in her body seemed to be making, Helena refused to utter a single sound, trying till her last breath not to worry too much the violet haired Goddess who was trying, without much success, to hammer her way through the stone hand.

Just when Helena thought she was going to crack in two, the pressure suddenly stopped and she was unceremoniously tossed towards the marble balustrade, onto which she crashed, impact driving from her lungs that small amount of oxygen she had managed to retain.

With black spots dancing in her field of vision, and given that every breath she drew felt like molten lava in her lungs, Helena knew there wasn't much she could do to protect herself.

Dizzy from the lack of oxygen she could only stare like an idiot as the giant stone palm advanced quickly towards her broken form, ready to squash her to death.

With a final burst of regret and requests for forgiveness, the young Saint closed her eyes to await the death that was coming. She felt the air movement – a powerful suction of air due to the massive weight of stone that was being moved – but the squashing sensation she was waiting for never arrived.

Carefully cracking open one eye, Helena was granted the visual of a vast expanse of gold exactly in front of her. At that, both her eyes flew open and she was greeted with a sight comparable to water for a thirsty man.

Even from behind, where most of the horns were not visible, the Taurus Saint looked enormous and very dangerous, but Helena managed to detect also an overflowing wave of affection, and a very large dose of worry, in the golden Cosmo, swirling around her big, gentle giant.

"Aldebaran!"

"Helena! Are you ok?"

Always the worrywart, even though in this case Helena might have to agree with him since she didn't think she really looked her best after having been squished within inches of life.

"I am now, Aldebaran! Boy, you have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

A deep grunt of effort was the only answer she received before the Taurus Saint powered up his Cosmo and launched a "Great Horn" that finally managed to turn that ridiculous stone hand into dust.

The fact that Aldebaran refrained from hugging her, even though it was crystal clear that he really wanted to, made Helena love him a just a little bit more!

"Helena, what are you doing here? I thought you had quitted being a Saint of Athena, and where is your Cloth?"

"I'll explain later why I am back, as for the Cloth…Eris did something to the Master, and I have decided to fight without Cloth to allow him to come back to me…I trust the fact that he will come back!"

Ok, not the best explanation _ever_, but her oxygen supply had been cut low, so Helena felt that she could be excused for the imprecisions.

"At the moment, though, those are not our main problems, Al! That one is an Erisian, the first of Eris' warriors. He doesn't look like much, but beware of him, he packs an incredible and very bitchy power inside of him!"

"Why am I not surprised by this? You collect weirdoes like stickers, brat!"

The smoky voice of Death Mask rose from the rubble and soothed the dull ache in Helena's chest like a balm.

"Be careful of what you say, Mask! You can be counted with those weirdoes, you know?"

The venomous look he shot her had Helena snicker lightly before doubling over in pain when the movement jarred her broken ribs.

Waving a hand through the air, hoping futilely to soothe her Guardian's worry, Helena tried to regain her composure.

"What's the plan now, brat?"

The plan, the plan…she didn't have one, otherwise she would have already dealt with the problem herself.

"I say we kill the bastard and then we can all have a lovely chat together, right Helena?"

How in the world Saga was able to inflict that amount of threat in a phrase that was supposed to be neuter at the very least, Helena was never going to know.

Still, he was right and most importantly he, and all the others who were slowly coming out in the terrace, was alive and relatively unarmed.

"I say that I like your plan, my liege! I always thought you would make a great Pope!"

The growl coming from the older Gemini made her smile.

"I'll let you off the hook for now, Ophiucus! But don't think we are done here! Now, Gold Saints, we need to destroy this bastard!"

And with that, her brothers had switched to business again.

"Oh, by the way…Welcome home, Helena!"

If her eyes started to water, Helena blamed it completely on the dust that permeated the air.


	43. Non morire!

"Athena, please get yourself to safety now!"

"One day, Helena…One day I _will_ fight alongside you, or better yet for your sorry ass, and then you will see who gives the orders around here!"

Well, nobody could pull the bitchy brat routine better than Saori Kido, Helena mused to herself and she couldn't help but smile when she caught Saori's disgruntled expression on her left and Aioros' grateful one on her right. At least, this time, she had managed to make at least one of them happy.

"Be careful what you wish for, oh my Goddess! For wishes have the disgraceful idea of getting granted the worst way possible!"

The string of curses in Ancient Japanese – the only way in which Helena and Saori had discovered they could talk in private without the others overhearing – would have made Death Mask proud if he had been able to understand them. Fortunately, apart from the lack of finesse, Athena didn't push her temper tantrum and retreated behind one of the furthest columns in the terrace.

"Helena…"

While Death Mask had appeared quite nonplussed by the entire ordeal – as if being almost frozen and then cooked to death was something he did on a daily basis – Aphrodite, on the other hand, looked like death wormed over.

It wasn't the physical damage that Helena was worried about, but the physiological one. There hadn't been much time during her verbal sparring with Eris, but from what little she had managed to gather from Athena, the Goddess of Discord had struck one of the most delicate and open nerves in Aphrodite's soul.

That, coupled with the fact that Helena herself had been gone at that time, possibly permanently, had cut her beautiful Guardian far deeper than she could see in that moment.

Helena was aware that a battlefield was no place to indulge in affection or reassurances of any kind, but the flat tone of the Pisces Saint coupled with his unseen eyes, told the young healer that she needed to fix the damage quickly, before it became permanent.

"Sweet pie, come here!"

When he complied without as much as a protest – if he had been in his right frame of mind he would have skinned her alive for having called him with a pet name in the middle of a battle and in front of their Goddess – Helena knew they were screwed. This was not something she could quickly fix with a hug, a smile and a promise to talk later, possibly in front of a hot chocolate with whipped cream that Aphrodite favoured and of which she had been sworn not to tell Death Mask, ever.

No, whatever Eris had done, it run very deep; so much that Helena knew that Pisces was going to be more hindrance than help in the upcoming battle.

Knowing she was taking a huge risk – fighting without the Cloth was one thing, but being also down one Guardian in the same moment, really spelled disaster – but seeing no other way out of the mess, Helena took the only decision possible, hoping against everything that, this time, the gods would see fit to concede her a break.

"Aphrodite, darling, go with Athena and protect her, ok?"

The request had been so unusual that it was almost enough to jolt Aphrodite entirely out of his funk.

"Helena? What? Why?"

"Aphrodite, listen to me, please! You aren't entirely you at the moment, right? I am not trying to make you feel guilty, I swear! But I need to face the brutal reality: you are evidently still hung up on whatever Eris told you or did, and I _need_ my Guardians fully concentrated on the task ahead. I am without both Cloth and Constellation at the moment, so the Guardians are all I have for my protection. If you cannot give your complete attention to the task, Dite, I cannot allow you to fight by my side. I can guarantee that the end result would not be pleasurable for no one…"

"Helena…please…"

"Dite, go with Athena, I beg of you!"

Helena could see she had wounded him, but a wounded pride was better than a dead soul.

"Are you…are you saying you…I am not your Guardian anymore?"

What?! How in the world had he reached _that_ conclusion? Well…Helena knew _how_, of course, but the fact that he had jumped to that conclusion first thing, tasted like ashes in her mouth.

"Gods, NO! Aphrodite, dear heart, one of my two super favourite persons in the entire world, brother extraordinaire, _I am not replacing you_! Not even for this battle! I am simply telling you to take it easy now, without the added stress of babysitting the idiot without the Cloth! Eris has wounded you, and whether or not the wound has a physical manifestation it doesn't mean that it's not there! I would have told you the same thing had you been bleeding all over the place! You are, and always will be, one of my Guardians!"

The shaky smile was a far cry from the usually perfect, face-splitting smile he favoured her with, but it was a very promising start!

"Now go, and play babysitter to our esteemed Goddess! Believe me, you'll find out that I have given you the toughest job of them all! Me and Mask are going to be just fine!"

With that flippant comment and a quick peck on Dite's cheek, Helena turned her attention back to the battle, feeling Pisces' Cosmo moving away from her, just to be replaced by Cancer's Cosmo, at her immediate right.

"Why did you send him away?"

"Athena mentioned the fact that Eris wanted to add Dite to his collection of pets, and at that Dite lost it completely… I am sorry Mask, but I couldn't risk him going into battle without being fully concentrated. We could have all been killed!"

Mask didn't answer her directly – he never did on these topics – but the thoughtful look he gave at his boyfriend's retreating back, and his hand squeezing her shoulder, told Helena that he shared her worry about the third member of their group and he was very grateful that she had spared him the oncoming battle.

"Don't worry, brat! Now let's go, before we really find out if our dear esteemed leader can really produce smoke from his ears!"

And with that, and a laugh that somehow sounded wrong, Death Mask steered his charge, and himself, away from the Pisces Saint and towards the battle.

"It was very nice of you to finally join the fight! Where's Aphrodite?"

"He is on babysitting duty today! And cut the sarcasm, Saga…it really doesn't suit you!"

Usually Helena wasn't that curt with the older Gemini, or even any other Saint, unless they had been specifically very idiotic, but Dite's situation weighted heavily on her mind. If Saga thought her rude he thankfully said nothing, even though Helena caught him sneaking a glance first at Death Mask and then at Aphrodite directly.

"So, baby girl, what's the plan?"

The brief respite from being pummelled to death had given Helena exactly the time she had needed to formulate at least a basic plan of attack. Whether or not the others would think it suitable it was still debatable, but the Ophiucus Saint had very high hopes that even her stubborn, paranoid and overprotective brothers would see that hers was the only way out of the mess.

And since she had been raised as the secret weapon of a secret plan to assassinate the Goddess and infiltrate Sanctuary, and for that reason paranoia had been her constant companion all her life, Helena switched to Cosmo to relay her plan to the others. She was pretty sure that Eris could very much hear whatever she was going to say without much effort, but old habits die hard and, more importantly, she wasn't sure if her lungs could support her talking much longer.

\- Listen to me, and listen good. The one we are going to fight is called Kayne, of the Envious Star, and, as his name would suggest, he has some kind of power related to the deadly sin of envy. I don't know how he does, but much like Eris he boosts whatever envy his enemies already have in their hearts until it gets to a point where they will act upon it, almost without their consent. –

\- Are you sure about this, Helena? –

\- Unfortunately, Shura, I am very, very sure about it. Just before almost being flattened to death, I was about to skin our dear Goddess alive, and it was only a miracle that stayed my hand…-

Helena knew that, by saying the truth about what had happened, she risked the others' mistrust and hatred, but they needed to hear how dangerous it was to fight an enemy like this.

\- It was no miracle, dear one! Simply your immense heart, your iron will and your pure intentions! You may have been taken by surprise and almost brought to that, but I know in my heart that under no circumstances you would have acted upon that heinous desire! –

Bless Aioros and his devastatingly good heart. To think that, the first time they had met just after their resurrection, the Sagittarius Saint had tried to kill her due to the fact that she was Ophiucus the Fallen and one day she was going to kill Athena. And now that she had almost done so, he had been the first to vehemently state that, under no circumstances, Helena would have committed such a treacherous act.

\- Thank you, Ros! Anyway, I am telling you this so that you know how powerful that bastard really is! Remember: he doesn't create envy out of thin air, he simply boosts up, what you are already feeling! Ah, and he apparently had also a more physical attack: he manipulates rocks so they he can shape them to his liking. I have no confirmation of this, but the source of his power, or at the very least the thing which he uses to control the rocks, is the hammer. We separate him from the hammer and we might have solved at least part of our problem! –

-Seems like a good observation, Helena! But, as you have already said, this solves just part of our problem: if he manipulates the envious feelings inside a person, how do we get close enough to disarm him, without succumbing to those feelings ourselves? –

The feral, slightly manic grin that Helena had suddenly directed towards the Virgo Saint had the blond on edge, like a forewarning of bad tidings.

\- That's exactly where you come in, Shaka! –

\- Why have I got the feeling that I will not like what you are about to ask of me? –

\- Don't be a sourpuss, Shaka! It's nothing out of the ordinary for you! After all, you are used to purge yourself of unwanted emotions, so you shouldn't be able to feel the envy at all, right? –

\- Helena, it's not that simple! I will need time! –

-They'll give you time! Just trust them! They'll keep him occupied until you are well and ready to step in and attack him! Why are you creating a problem here, Shaka? Is the great Virgo no Shaka is afraid? I never thought I'd see the day! –

Shaka knew she was baiting him, and that he should rise himself above it – since, apparently, the entire attack was focused on the fact that he was able to purge every emotion – but there was something niggling at the back of his mind. Something in that explanation didn't really add up.

\- Helena…why _they_? Why didn't you use _we_? What are you planning? And why do I have the feeling that we will not like it? –

\- I'm coming with you, of course! I have every faith in your abilities Shaka, but did you really think I was going to let you go alone? –

\- Helena, no…please…you are injured and he already used his attack on you! I don't want you to undergo that torture one more time! The plan is actually sound! I can and I will deal with him alone! –

\- Forget about it, Shaka! That part is the only one that is non-negotiable! I know you can handle yourself in almost any situation, but in this case you'll need backup! Your regular techniques are very powerful, but even you will have difficulty in sealing your emotions, avoiding his attacks and actually stop him! I _am_ coming with you, and I will not be dissuaded! –

Shaka knew Helena could handle herself in any situation and she had more than proved her worth; he also knew that his insistence could and would wound her warrior's pride, but if she had really come back to them, he wasn't about to risk her life in the upcoming battle.

-And what can you really do, Helena? You are already injured, you don't have a Cloth and, more importantly, you have already proven to be susceptible to his attacks! How are you really supposed to help me? –

The Virgo Saint could feel the others stiffening at his uncaring, and downright brutal, remark about Helena's almost murder and he couldn't help but cringe himself at his complete lack of tact and basic social feelings; given their collective past, the Gold Saints had an unspoken rule on the mention, or lack of thereof, of sinful acts committed under somebody else's control.

Bracing himself for the hatred and wrath he was sure to receive from their young sister, and possibly even from her remaining Guardian – Shaka knew that Death Mask had appreciated him trying to keep Helena from battle, but that didn't mean he would forgive him for insinuating that Helena could really betray their Goddess – the blond Saint was taken aback when, instead of the glare he was expecting, Helena was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a slight grin on her lips.

-Are you done? Do you have any more pressing concerns that you want to unload off your chest before we go into battle? No? Good! Your concerns have been duly noted, I will bear full responsibility in case anything happens, and I will punch you when we are done here for suggesting I stay out of the battle! Apart from that, I am coming with you, Shaka! I know I don't have a Cloth – I am not _that_ stupid, thank you very much! – and I wasn't going to put myself in the line of fire if I could avoid it, but you'll need someone to boost up your defences while you focus more on the offensive, unless you don't trust me to protect you…-

Sighing slightly in defeat, Shaka knew she had well and truly won the battle: on the one hand he really wanted to protect Helena from ulterior harm, but he knew he couldn't do that by belittling and diminishing her worth. Helena was an outstanding fighter, skilled, resourceful, a strategical genius and, of course, not an idiot and he knew she would stay out of the line of fire. Furthermore, the man closest to God knew he needed all the help he could get. While before the Elysium debacle, Shaka had always been a solitary man, proud of his solitude and sure in the fact that he could overcome anything thrown his way, after his experience at the Wall of Lament, even the Virgo Saint had understood the value of teamwork.

If Helena's assessment was correct – and he had no doubt about her accuracy – then their enemy was a tough bone to deal with and, if Shaka was really the point of their entire attack strategy, he needed to focus all of his energies in the attack itself while suppressing his own emotions as not to become prey to them. That meant he could not focus on his defences and he knew that Helena knew, and that was why she had offered herself up as his shield.

\- I don't really like this Helena…but I can admit the logic behind your plan and, of course, you know I trust you with my life! –

-Good! Then, if there are no more questions, doubts, or ridiculous bouts of unjustified paranoia, I think we are ready to move out, right?-

Even before she had finished speaking Helena could see that almost all of her brothers wanted to voice their dissent, and very loudly at that! But before she could shut them up and focus on the battle ahead, one voice resounded loudly in their minds, beating her to the punch.

-Everybody SHUT UP! I like this plan even less than you do, as I am one of the two people who are specifically tasked with her security! But…but I will say this: Helena is a skilled fighter and powerful Gold Saint in her own right! Keeping her out of the battle is failing to acknowledge that fact; she has the same right of being out here as we do and, even though I would love to lock her up somewhere safe and toss away the key, I cannot and will not deny her the recognition she fully deserves! You all know that, while you would do everything to protect your beloved, in the end you would not keep him from the fight, especially if his contribution could help everybody else, so I see no reason to keep Helena from fighting alongside us! We trained her for this, and we all know the extent of her abilities. I trust her to watch my back, like I would trust any of you. Do you? –

Boy, Death Mask could make a compelling argument if he wanted to, Helena mused silently, trying and miserably failing to keep the tears at bay. She would have loved to hug him to death to show him her love and appreciation for what he had told the others, but the young healer knew that it would not be wise to push all of the Cancer's buttons in one sitting, so she settled for a blinding smile and an heartfelt thank you through their private bond.

-Ok, fine! Death Mask is right and Helena's plan is actually doable! If there are no more objections than we need to get this show on the road! Gold Saints, you know what to do! Let us show that prick and his deranged Goddess what we are really capable of! –

In that moment, Helena was glad she had insisted that Saga watched and took notes off some of the most glorious inspirational speeches that Hollywood had ever produced! At the very least it had been a welcome improvement over his years with Arles in control, when the speeches almost always could be summed up as "kill everybody on sight!"

-Oh, and Helena? –

-Yes, Saga?-

"Don't die!"


	44. Dovevo dire di no

-Don't die, he said! Like dying is somehow at the top of my list of things to do in the next future! –

-Less grumbling and more focusing, Ophiucus! I might be the arrow point of our entire strategy, but if you get distracted we are both done for! –

-Yes, mother…-

Sometimes, just sometimes, Helena had the sudden urge to smack all of her brothers silly and leave them to their own devices. Fortunately it was only a passing urge which, until that moment, she had never thought to really put into action; at least the leaving part. Athena only knew how many times she had really smacked the other Gold Saints silly for one stunt or another they had pulled over the years.

But, regardless of everything else, Helena knew that, in that moment, Shaka was right in reminding her that she needed to focus on the mission at hand. After all it really wouldn't do for her to prove the Virgo Saint right in his assumption that she couldn't help in the fight.

There was something to be said about the Erisian: even when faced with eleven powerful warriors Kayne had lost none of his deadliness and ruthlessness and, unfortunately, he did not seem to tire regardless of the amount of Cosmo he had to exert to fend off the Gold Saints in front of him. The same could not be said for Saga and the others who seemed to be running out of energy faster than Helena had anticipated.

The young healer would have loved nothing more than to be able to boost their energy up with her own Cosmo, like she would have done had this been any other fight and she still had her Cloth, but today she had a more important self-imposed task to fulfil first.

At the thought that she might have had to let someone die in order to finish the mission, the bile in her stomach rose to her throat. The youngest of the Saints was by no means a naïve fool – her years being trained as the most specialized assassin in Sanctuary had seen to that – but she had always made a point of refusing to kill in cold blood. Her hands weren't clean by any definition of cleanliness, but, for all that Arles had groomed her to be exactly that, Helena had never killed anybody just because someone had ordered the kill. Sure, there had been a lot of casualties on her hands, battles tended to do that, but Helena was a healer and, as such, she disliked killing passionately. Moreover, the simple idea of letting one of her precious brothers die, just to achieve victory in the end, did not seat well on her conscience. She knew that she had sworn to protect Athena at all costs, even at someone else's expense, but Helena knew she would not be fine if any of the other Gold Saints were to lose their lives in the process: she had already lost them all once, and she knew for a fact she couldn't do it again.

That was exactly why she had insisted in being Shaka's shield and she would keep an eye on the others as not to lose them in the upcoming battle.

Refocusing on the battle so as not to get killed prematurely – as much as she was willing to lay down her life to protect each and every member of her family, that did not mean she really wanted to die in vain – Helena took a moment to appraise the situation and modify their plan if needed.

In the forest of stone beams that had sprouted from the earth in front of her, the raven haired girl could hardly make out the silhouettes of her brothers; she knew they were all alive and fighting passionately, but she was also aware of the fact that they were rapidly losing their energies. Looking back at where Shaka was seated, just slightly out of reach of the battle, Helena could not contain her disappointment when she realized that he still hadn't finished with his meditation; contrary to all the other Gold Saints, Helena knew very well how much time it really took to prepare for such a complicated plan of attack, and she was aware that she shouldn't feel any disappointment in it, as it was proof that Shaka was trying to be most efficient when he finally descended on the battlefield. That, of course, did not mean that Helena didn't wish for the Virgo Saint to hurry it up a little, so that, at the very least, the others could be spared the worst of the injuries.

As if on cue, a panicked yell followed immediately by a pained one, told the healer that Milo had been injured, and badly at that if the rising anxiety she could feel permeating Camus' Cosmo was anything to go by.

-Hurry it up, Shaka! They won't be able to resist much longer! –

-Calm yourself down, Helena! I will be done when I will be done and not a second before, and you know this very well! Cease your panicking and trust them! For being the one who told me that I could trust them to hold our enemy down until I could be fully ready, you are not doing a fine job at following your own advice! –

Oh how she wanted to smack him! She knew he was right, of course she knew it! And she really did trust the others, there had never been any doubt about that, but it was one thing to know they were injured while fighting alongside them, a completely another thing was to hear them scream in pain knowing that there was nothing she could do to help them, unless she wanted to jeopardize her own plan. It really didn't help matters that this situation strongly resembled the time when she had been left behind to protect Sanctuary while all her brothers gave up their life in Hell, with the added questionable bonus of being able to see and hear exactly everything that was happening.

\- Fine, fine…I trust them! You know I do! But please, Shaka, for the love of all that's holy, try and be quick about whatever you are doing! –

She really had no right to ask this of him, but Helena had been denied so many things in her lifetime that she felt she could be excused for some random bouts of brattiness here and there.

The next ten minutes proved to be a living hell for Helena, so much that she started to question whether or not it would be more help or hindrance to her brothers if she decided to enter the battle without the Cloth and engage Kayne directly once more.

Just when the pained grunt of Death Mask became the final straw that pushed Helena's decision towards engaging the Erisian once again, Shaka finally rose from his meditation, eyes closed, Cosmo blazing, and a big black hole where Helena knew his emotions usually dwelled – and whoever said that the Virgo Saint did not do emotions, had obviously never had the pleasure of hearing the man's complaints about everything and everyone in Sanctuary.

Quickly signalling their readiness to Saga, Helena watched the Gold Saints assume the precise positions that she and the Pope had very carefully selected, in order to maximize the amount of damage inflicted on the enemy.

Before Kayne had had the time to ponder on their odd positions, the blue lights of Cancer surrounded him, trying to grab his soul and drag it out of the body. At the same time, Scorpio's Scarlet Needle and Camus' Diamond Dust effectively debilitated the body and pinned it to the spot. If Helena hadn't told them not to, they would have tried to use one of their most devastating attacks, for example Gemini, or Taurus, to kill him, but in the end they would have ended up dead, victims of the stone spears that the Erisian could call at will. Even Saga, who was less delicate than Helena in sending his own brothers in arm to die for the cause, could see that ten people dead for one single enemy, the first of what he supposed was a very long list, was an idiotic thing to do.

And so, instead of trying to kill the bastard with brute force, Saga signalled Mu; the violet-haired man nodded once in confirmation and activated his teleportation, reappearing a short distance away, right on top of Kayne and his blasted hammer.

Taking advantage of his enemy's immobility and the surprise effect, Mu made to grab the hammer and give Shaka the opening he needed. But what none of them, Helena included, could have foreseen and therefore prevented, was the fact that, apparently, the hammer had its very own personality, one that strongly objected at being separated from his master.

The subsequent explosion knocked everybody off their feet and bodily launched them as far away as possible from Kayne, and almost on top of Athena and Aphrodite. The only good thing about that was that it had given Shaka that opening he and Helena had been waiting for.

Forcing down both the bile in her throat and the stifling concern for her family, Helena gave all her attention to the battle between Shaka and Kayne. The failure of their plan meant that the Erisian was still very much in possession of his hammer and that Shaka was hard pressed at avoiding the stone beams before thinking about attacking. It had been a very good thing that Helena had decided she needed to accompany him, not that any of her brothers would have stoop as low as to admit it, especially when her Stone Wall was the only think that prevented the Virgo Saint from being skewered like a kebab.

-I'll deal with his physical attacks, you concentrate on his psychological ones, Shaka!-

Almost as soon as Helena had thought that, she felt the slimy hands of envy penetrate her mind once again. More accustomed to it, and almost expecting it, this time Helena knew what she had to do; one of the reasons she had insisted on being Shaka's partner in the endeavour, apart for her propensity for defence techniques, was the fact that she could shield almost as well as the Virgo Saint, an ability she had developed after countless nights with her ass parked on the cold floor of the Sixth House. She had hated those lessons with a vengeance when she had been younger, but in that moment Helena was planning to offer up a prayer to the Gods because those lessons were exactly what was saving her life.

It didn't hurt the fact that she had already experienced the attack and she knew exactly what to expect, which made shielding so much easier. But if protecting herself from a mind attack was easy, the same could not be said for the blasted spears that kept coming at them. She had already dodged them more times than she could count and yet some of them had managed to pierce her. The new wounds, coupled with the ones she had already received earlier, made her look like some sort of Swiss cheese, and the metaphor might have made her laugh, if she had not been so busy trying to exclude the excruciating pain from her mind, so that she could be of some help to Shaka.

Refocusing her slightly blurred eyesight on the blond warrior she could see he was already engaged in battle, and even if said battle lacked the fierceness and loudness of the others, Helena was sure that it was just as difficult and deadly. She kept a lookout for more errant spears that could hit Shaka, but it was apparent that, whatever Virgo was doing, it was actually succeeding in stopping the Erisian from using his hammer.

Seeing this as her chance at getting rid of the blasted thing, Helena summoned her trusted snakes to pry Kayne's fingers loose from the weapon. Helena would never know whether it was her action, the fact that Shaka had lost some of his concentration, or a mixture of both, but whatever the reason, Kayne suddenly snapped out of his trance long enough to retake control of his hammer and swing it in an arch over his head.

Much like a third rate horror movie, Helena watched in slow motion as the hammer completed its graceful arch in the air and suddenly one big, pointy spear of granite, burst forth from the earth, directly on the path for Shaka's unprotected back.

Helena's keen eyes told her that her blonde brother would be hit directly in the heart and that awareness trumped every logic or strategy or common sense she might have had; if she had been thinking clearly she would have raised one of her many defences around Virgo, while shouting a warning; if she had been thinking clearly she would have realized that she was the only one without the extra protection of the Cloth; if she had been thinking clearly she wouldn't have bodily placed herself between the rock and her brother. But she hadn't been thinking clearly. In the haze of her panic Helena had only seen another death, and her heart hadn't been able to cope.

At Camus' panicked yell Shaka had managed to turn around just in time to see Helena's back slide in front of him, protecting him from being stabbed to death. For half a second he had been too shocked to truly realize what was happening in front of him, but as soon as he realized what his sister had done, all his blood froze in his veins.

His arms had gone up of their own accord, a futile try to protect Helena somehow, even if it was just breaking her fall, but before he could think of using his own Cosmo to do something, either attack of defend, a blinding golden light enveloped his baby sister and for a moment he saw nothing.

When he finally felt he could open his eyes, it felt like an eternity later even though he knew it was practically impossible, he was granted what was probably the second most blessed sight he had ever had the pleasure to see: clothed in resplendent gold, hair billowing in the breeze, and a hand on the point of the spear, to stop it from penetrating her body, Helena looked like a picture from another word.

While Helena might have looked like something otherworldly, she definitely did not feel that way. She was filthy, she was tired, she was hurt, and on top of everything else she was being scolded, and rather harshly at that, by her own Cloth who had magically and rather suddenly decided to reappear by her side.

Helena knew she owed the Master more than her thanks, given the fact that, had he not appeared when he did, she would have ended up on the wrong end of a spear aimed at her gut. That did not mean she was going to take his tongue-lashing laying down like some good girl from another century: first of all she was from a time where women and men shared the same rights, second of all she had never been a good girl in her life. Moreover, it wasn't like she had _wanted_ to fight the Erisian without protection, she had done so for the Master's sake! The absolute minimum he could do was thank her and cut her some slack!

-I'm still not seeing the problem, Master! I am alive, a bit worse for wear but undeniably alive, and you are back exactly how and where you were supposed to be! I say that all in all this is not a bad result! So why the heck are you still complaining?-

The long suffering sigh he released, like he thought she was an idiot, made her want to slap him fully in the face.

-Of course you wouldn't see the problem! After all you are the one who decided to trust me, even after everything I had done to you in this life and in the previous one…but, Helena that was exactly the problem: you are not supposed to trust me, _ever_! Bad things happened every time you trusted me and I would not see you entangled in any more bad luck if I could…-

-You really are an idiot, Master…you can keep telling me that crap for the rest of our lives together and I would still not listen to you! I thought that me fighting without Cloth to give you a chance to come back, would finally bludgeon into your thick head that _nothing _you'll ever do would ever keep me away from you!-

The faint sound that reached her ears sounded suspiciously like sniffing and, in that moment, Helena completely lost the will to pursue with her scolding; it was pretty clear to her that the Master had been trying – rather pathetically but she couldn't help but think it was sweet – to spare her the suffering that surely was going to come their way in their battle against Eris.

-Ok, since we have established that I am not going anywhere, I think is about time we did something about the idiot in the flashy armour, before he decides to kill us all. It would be somewhat embarrassing to have to go back to Minos dead; after all I did tell him that I knew what I was doing and that I was pretty sure that nothing out here could take me out that easily!-

The slight chuckle, while not a full laugh, was enough to reassure Helena that, maybe not in the next five minutes, but soon enough her constellation would be fine.

-By the way, Master, do you have any ideas? Because I am fresh out of new ones and, apparently, the one I had before kind of backfired in the end…-

-Try not to remind me of the fact that I could have lost you, to your own good heart and stupidity! As for ideas, I have one, but it'll take a lot of trust on your part, and I cannot guarantee you that is going to be pain free…-

-I believe that everything I have done or said up to this point have proven you that I _trust_ you, so I am going to pretend you haven't asked such a stupid question! As for the pain, you know better than anybody else what I endured, so if you think that it's not going to be worse than that, by all means let's hear it!-

Helena knew she should have said no…


	45. Qualcosa è andato storto

They were going to die. They were all going to die, and he could not do anything about it. Aphrodite had never put much stock in strength, not like Aioria or even Aldebaran had. Beauty was a concept familiar to him, but strength felt alien. He wasn't a warrior in the strictest of the senses and the fact had never bothered him excessively. After all, Athena had no need for all of her warriors to be mindless brutes, capable only to talk and think with their fists – goodness knew that Death Mask did enough of that for the both of them! With that thought in mind, Aphrodite had always refined more his higher instincts than his baser ones, and never in his life he had wished to be stronger; never, except for now.

In that moment, when all of his family laid in the dust, too weary to pick themselves up, when half his soul – they _really_ needed to have a long discussion after everything was said and done – was coughing up blood and was attempting, rather poorly, to find the strength to launch one last attack…in that moment, Aphrodite wished he was stronger.

The warrior of beauty wished he was strong enough to overcome whatever nightmare Eris had unleashed with her words; he wished he had been strong enough to stand beside Helena, like any good Guardian would have done; he wished he was strong enough to stand beside his comrades, like a proud Gold Saint, not on the sides, and with the distinct feeling that he wasn't protecting as much as he was being protected.

But he wasn't strong enough. He was still unsettled, still fearful enough not to be able to concentrate on his Cosmo, not even when he had seen Helena surge forward, trying to shield Shaka with her body. His heart had told him that his baby sister had been in danger, that he had to protect her, but his mind had been unable to get out the black maze of fear and self-doubt in which he seemed to be stuck in. And now he was paying the price.

On instinct, Aphrodite had closed his eyes just before the spear pierced Helena, his tortured mind refusing to bear witnessing to such a cruel deed, but he opened them quickly when he saw the burst of golden light through his eyelids.

The Ophiucus Cloth! Helena's own constellation had finally returned to his proper place, to his duty! Aphrodite breathed a sigh of relief: they were safe, Helena would see to it, of that Pisces had no doubt.

Except that whoever emerged from the golden light, clad in the sacred vestiges of the Ophiucus was definitely _not_ Helena.

After years spent at her side, Aphrodite had learned to read Helena's mannerism better that it was his own. He knew her quirks, her tells, her faints, everything and anything that made her Helena. Because of this he was positive that the girl in the Ophiucus Cloth, while bearing the same face of his beloved sibling, was not in fact Helena.

Death Mask had apparently reached the same conclusion and was, without much success, trying to haul himself up in order to reach not-Helena and try and figure out what had gone wrong.

If any doubts still persisted in Dite's mind about the identity of the girl, they were blown out of the water when not-Helena started to speak. The soft, gentle voice of his protégé was mixed with the much harsher cadence of a man. It did not take long for Aphrodite to figure out who it was: he might not have met him prior to three weeks before, but the Snake Master had a distinct voice that the Pisces Saint would have recognized anywhere.

Once he had recognized the voice, Aphrodite could see that, while the body was still Helena's, the soul inhabiting it was the Snake Master's. The Pisces Saint had never known that something like that was possible at all, but Helena had told them that she shared her soul with her Cloth, so maybe in their case, there really was the possibility of interchanging the souls. He only hoped that, in the end, Helena would be restored to her body without any permanent or lasting damage. In that very moment, Aphrodite was certain he wasn't going to survive if, on top of everything else, he had to deal with Helena's permanent departure. While he had told her the absolute truth when he had sent her off with Minos to try and save her life, he had mourned for her deeply, selfishly wishing for some miracle to have her back. And now that the miracle he had asked for, had been unexpectedly granted to them, Dite knew that if she was ripped from his side once more, he would not survive it. It had taken him long years to finally acknowledge it, but he, Pisces no Aphrodite, had given away his battered and abused heart to the only two people who had cared enough to help him put the pieces together and had extended a welcoming hand in the black depths of despair and loneliness in which he had dwelled since his childhood. Death Mask and Helena had found all the pieces of his shattered soul and he put them back together and, more importantly, they had hold it together with their love, care and sometimes only sheer stubbornness and pig-headedness. That was the real reason why Aphrodite could not, would not let them go. He wasn't going to loose the girl who had reminded him of what it meant to protect someone, to have someone put their trust in you; nor he was going to let go of the man who had protected _him_, like _he_ was something fragile but incredibly precious. Death Mask had given him the dignity of deciding for his own life, while always, always, having his back. They had made him human again and for them, only for them, Aphrodite – who had never valued strength – wanted to be strong.

In that very moment, being strong meant that he was going to have to trust that Helena would come back to him, that Death Mask would not succumb to the lures of the netherworld, and, in the meantime, protect Athena to the best of his abilities. He wasn't going to fail them and, in return, he was sure they weren't going to fail him.

Helena was having a bad day; scratch that, she was sure that this day was going to rank in the top five worst days of her entire life! It had started with a lover's spat so fierce between her and Minos that she was sure they needed some time to soothe ruffle feathers. Then she had been poked and prodded and squished to death by an unassuming looking warrior, but at the very least she had been saved by her darling brothers.

What was happening in that moment, though, really took the cake; the Snake Master had been truthful with her when he had told her his entire plan wasn't going to be pain-free, but for the young girl the pain had been the least of her problems.

Apparently being soul-bonded with a Cloth meant that, whenever the Cloth felt like it, Cloth and host could swap their souls and take turns in controlling the host's body. In practice this meant that, if the whim struck the Master, he could decide to usurp her body and use it as his own. The pain was excruciating, a sort of safeguard to prevent a full-time possession, but then again, Helena was more freaked out by the fact that she had been relegated in the back-seat in her own body, than the fact that she should have been unable to move due to the pain.

"Kayne! Leave the others alone! I am your enemy! I will fight you!"

-Master, are you mad?! I know you are very powerful on your own, but going against him alone it's folly! –

-You said you trusted me, girl! Now that things get complicated, are you going to bail out on me?-

-You know I do trust you! Don't ask stupid questions! I am simply enquiring about the soundness of this plan! I know you are used to do things alone, but now you have friends, you have allies! There is no need for you to play martyr alone!-

-Oh baby girl! You really are something else! I know I am not alone! I am sure that they will make fine allies on any other day, but in this battle I will not need their help: you and I are going to be more than enough to blast that idiot into oblivion!-

The Master had said _you and I _with such nonchalance, like he had not uttered something so very precious, but for Helena, being acknowledged as someone with the same dignity as the Master, was probably the best gift her Cloth had ever given her.

-When you are done making me cry, can you share this mysterious plan with me? I would like to know what you expect from me, since you just promoted me to the role of full-partner in crime!-

The smile she received was blinding, accompanied by the throaty chuckle Helena had come to associate with her new and improved Cloth.

-The plan is simple: I think you have noticed that Kayne's attacks target the souls and the minds, not the bodies…-

The Master was right: the plan was genius in its simplicity! It was true, the attacks were usually directed to the minds of the enemies, playing with their emotions, but they usually did not damage the body. In their case, if the theory was proven correct, they had a distinct advantage: one of them could play decoy and bear the brunt of the attack, while the other could still use the body that should not have any damage.

-How do we do this, then Master? Do I play decoy and you strike the definitive hit?-

-No, girl! I will take the full brunt of the attack, and once I am out for the count you need to swap with me, by force if necessary, and you get to deliver the final blow!-

-Why? You are the more experienced one, Master! It's your plan and you know what to do, why are you the one getting hit on purpose? Please tell me this is not another pathetic try to protect me at all costs! Because, if it's true, let me tell you now that I will not hesitate to punch you!-

-Again with the punching! I seem to remember telling you to knock it off, or I was going to forcibly change you Guardians! My brother's host is a bad example for such a pretty lady like you! But aside from that, of course one of my main motives is your protection! I am your Cloth, your protection is my reason for existing, so don't start with the whining, because I am not one of your precious brothers, and I will not be swayed by big, watery, puppy eyes. I also have another reason, one you will definitely appreciate more: I need to be the one to be attacked for two reasons. One: I know that our two souls, technically are the same age, but since you got to be reborn and I didn't, even if you have the same memories, your soul is newer than mine, and for this reason more susceptible to psychic attacks. Two: this is your body, not mine, and while I can control it well enough to perform many tasks, this attack will require a level of precision that you can obtain better than I do! Now, do you agree with me?-

-I hate you! You know that I cannot say no to you, if you actually use logic to support your reasons! Fine, you win! We'll do this your way! But if you die, I will never forgive you, are we clear?-

The hair-ruffling as a body-less soul wasn't any better than the same thing with a body, but Helena silently suffered through it, because that had always been the way in which the Master had manifested his approval towards her choices.

-Ok, Helena-girl! Ready or not here I go!-

Death Mask was sure he was going to be dead by the end of the fight. Whatever injury Eris and that idiotic _damerino_ had inflicted on him, were nothing compared to the heart attack that Helena seemed hell-bent on causing him. First she decided to come back – not that he wasn't happy to see her and have the confirmation that she had survived the curse, but he had kind of liked the idea of his baby sister out of danger for good; then she decided to fight a superior enemy without the Cloth, almost getting killed under a giant stone hand. Not happy with that, she insisted in being part of a battle against the very same foe that had almost killed her, still without the Cloth. On top of that she had decided to act as a human shield, the fact that she was the only one without protection notwithstanding, and Death Mask was sure that his heart had stopped for a second, just before the Ophiucus Cloth had made its grand entry – the Cancer Saint was going to have words with the Snake Master, about leaving Helena unprotected. And now, now she had gone one-up again and, if he had understood it correctly, she had given up her body to the soul of her Cloth. In the span of less than two hours, little sweet Helena had done more things that fell into the 'suicidal' category, than she had ever done in all her life.

Death Mask knew very well that Helena was terrified of losing them all once again; it had not taken a genius to figure that out after they had been brought back from the dead. After the rather spectacular tongue-lashing they had all received from the Ophiucus Saint, which had doubled for the two Guardians, Helena had taken months to trust the fact they were not going to disappear. She had been very discreet in her obsession, and they had all indulged her happily, but Death Mask had been relieved when she had called back the snakes tasked with their surveillance; for all the years he had spent around the young Snake Mistress, the Cancer Saint could never really force himself to like the slimy beasts.

They had all been doing very well, and Death Mask could not help but curse the bloody Fates that had decided to play once again with his charge's heart. For all the smiles and the bravado she kept wearing around her like a cloak, Helena was really fragile inside, and Cancer knew that, what for everyone would be sad but inevitable, for their young sister would be the end of the world: their deaths, even for the cause of justice, were not something Helena wanted to even think about. Mask, and to some extent even Aphrodite, was very aware that his charge would put herself in danger, before even thinking about allowing any of them to be permanently hurt, or worse. That didn't really make their job as Guardians any easier – after all protecting somebody with a very strong death wish wasn't simple – but whatever they had tried to change Helena's mind, had resulted in the worst temper tantrums Death Mask had ever seen. The subject had been hastily dropped after that, all of them afraid that Helena would only hurt herself more, if she was stopped from doing what she felt necessary. Sure, it had made his job more difficult, but Death Mask was nothing if not persistent, and so he had simply tried to _prevent_ bad things from happening.

Too bad that they had to fail so catastrophically the very first time it had really mattered: Death Mask knew he shouldn't have let her join the fight, not without the Cloth, but she had looked at him with such big, and pleading eyes that he had felt his resolve crumble. At the very least the albino man should have kept Helena next to him, but they had needed Shaka's powers and nobody else really had the necessary skills to accompany him. Death Mask knew that he should have done a lot of things differently, but he had not and now he was stuck paying the price. He could only hope that his stupidity wouldn't cost him everything he had ever held dear.

-Even if this mad scheme of yours ends up working, Master, remind me never to actually use any of your plans _ever_ again!-

Helena was very aware of the fact that it was useless to complain to her Cloth in that very moment, like it had been just as useless to do it for the past hundred times. From the moment she had agreed on their mad scheme, the Snake Master had been virtually unreachable to her, all contacts between them blocked, as not to succumb both to Kayne's attacks.

The execution of the first part of their plan had been flawless: after a couple of more taunts, and a few more direct attacks, the Erisian had finally decided to attack her (them?) with his best shot and Helena had found herself watching helplessly as the Master slowly tried not to succumb to the suffocating envy that even she, in her back position, could feel chocking through his system. Even though her soul could slightly feel the heavy syrupy feeling that she had come to associate with the Erisian's attack, Helena was also aware of the fact that her body had not been subjected to it, like she and the Master had predicted. Somehow, even if her Cloth's soul was in the forefront of their peculiar seating arrangement, it seemed like her body was still mainly linked to her own soul, and so it was largely unaffected.

Sensing that the Master was progressively losing his control, Helena knew that the time to swap consciousness had come, especially because it seemed that their enemy had reached the limit of how much power he could exert in one single sitting.

Fortifying her mind for the take-over, Helena slowly let her Cosmo expand, trying to fill every nook and cranny in the metaphorical space of her mind. She was already halfway through when it happened: the gentle flow of her energy was stopped by something that looked and felt like a brick wall. Already expecting something of that nature, the young girl wasn't discouraged in the slightest by the delay: after all, Helena had known it wasn't going to be easy for the Master to let go of the control he had over her body. With a bit more force she started to push back the wall, all the while trying to see if there were fissures she could use to penetrate the barrier and infiltrate her essence on the other side of it.

When that didn't wield the results she had been expecting, Helena pushed her soul against the wall more forcefully, a bad feeling starting to claw at the back of her mind: a little bit of resistance she had been prepared for, but this was starting to look like a tad too much.

Easing back a little in her efforts to physically push herself against the barrier, she was caught completely off-guard and unprepared by the blast of energy that had come from the Master's side. The attack had been so unexpected that Helena had not even had the time to erect one of her many barriers and so she was slammed backwards full-force.

While she was trying to clear her head and assess the damage – was a soul supposed to get damaged like she was a physical being? – the barrier in front of her dissolved and the mental projection of the Snake Master started to walk towards her, in a disturbing mockery of her first meeting with Death Bringer, when he had emerged from the shadows of Hell.

-Master? What's happening? What are you doing? –

When no answer came, Helena knew that something was seriously wrong. While not the most talkative of beings, the Master had never used silence as a way to intimidate people, but whoever was in front of her, clearly wasn't talking in order to set her on edge.

When the figure in front of her finally came close enough to see it clearly, Helena could not contain a horrified gasp.

The man in front of her wasn't her beloved Snake Master. Usually warm eyes had been replaced with cold bottomless pits of scorn and cruelty, but worst of all_ envy._

In that moment Helena understood why Kayne had stopped his attack; it hadn't been because he had run out of energy, on the contrary he had reached his objective. The Snake Master was completely under his control, and in that moment, in the privacy of her own head, he was hell-bent in getting rid of her once and for all.

Slowly getting back to her feet Helena could only hope she had the necessary strength to solve the problem before it cost them all more than they had been prepared to loose.

If not, she was going to die alone inside her own head, ironically killed by half of her own soul: she didn't think Death Mask and Aphrodite would ever forgive her for that one.


	46. Siamo ancora in tempo

The first thing that Helena became aware of, when she regained her consciousness after a vicious attack from the Snake Master, was that she really could not take another hit like that, or she was toast.

In all her years battling the Gold Saints to harness their powers, Helena had encountered powerful sparring partners – Gemini, both when he was Arles and the few times he had trained her as Saga, had been a nightmare to spar with, and even sweet, loving, cuddly Aldebaran meant business in the Arena – but sooner or later she had always been able to overcome all of them. The same could not be said for her Cloth. Granted, incorporeal beings weren't supposed to be sparring partners, but due to the fact that they shared a soul, the Master had been able to manifest himself physically a couple of times during the years. Maybe it was because she had never become intimately familiar with his fighting style, or because she had been still young the last time he had truly sparred with her, but whatever the reason she had never been able to beat him. Scratch that, she had never even been able to _hit _him! And now she was supposed to pound him enough to be able to make the switch for her body, alone and basically defenceless, since she had found out the hard way that, while incorporeal, her attacks had been sadly reduced to mere bolts of raw energy.

A pained grunt and a panicked yell managed to penetrate the barrier of her mind and in that instant Helena became aware of another, much bigger problem: mere bolts of raw energy as they were in the privacy of her own mind, the Snake Master's attacks, and to an extent even her own, where still very much effective on the outside world. Even worse news: it looked like whatever attack her body was dishing out, it had a strong component of her own poison, which, unfortunately, consisted in a sickly, slimy, acidic yellow goo, that was very good at melting flesh. And with everybody's Cloths broken or downright destroyed, and Athena without her Kamui, there was an overabundance of flesh going around unprotected.

The string of curses right next to her ear alerted her to the fact that Death Mask had managed, amidst what she supposed was a sea of pain and injuries, to make it to her side, and was trying without much success to bind her movements.

"Get your fucking act together, Helena! Do it NOW!"

The sickening crunch of bones breaking told Helena that the Master, who was still very much in charge of her body, had not particularly appreciated Cancer's actions.

Worried about Mask's injuries, Helena almost missed it: the teeny tiny opening that her silver haired brother had given her with his reckless action.

Knowing she had to act very quickly if she ever wanted to succeed, the raven haired girl crept up to the Master, who was still focused on pummelling Death Mask in the marble of the terrace. Not really knowing what the best course of action was, Helena decided that there was no harm in being literal: the Master had told her that, if need be, she was to push him aside and regain control of her body so she decided to do exactly that.

Angling her body so that she was facing the Master's back with her right shoulder, she took two steps backwards to gain a little bit of space and then she started to run forward. Given that she didn't have that much space at the beginning, Helena wasn't able to put a lot of force behind her shove, but what she had managed to exert had had the desired effect of making the Master stumble and lose his balance.

With her enemy on his knees, Helena realized that, for the first time since the beginning of the fight, she had both the advantage over him, and a modicum of control over her own body.

Helena used what little control she had managed to wrangle from the Snake Master's grip to yell at Death Mask and the others to '_get the fuck away from me, you morons! Before I end up killing you all!'_, and when she felt them move further away from her – in all honesty Death Mask had to be bodily dragged away by the twins, all the while kicking and screaming profanities to the heavens because he was '_her Guardian, dammit, and I need to stay with her, so let me go, you imbeciles'_ – she brought her attention back to the Snake Master.

Master who, to her utter surprise and horror, was nowhere to be seen. Raising her guard to minimize the risk of being caught by surprise, she moved slightly away from the circle of light in the centre of what she had come to identify as their shared soul-space, and into the darkest corner.

The deeper she went, the darker it became, but Helena had faced down scary monsters and angry gods to be afraid of something as measly as the absence of light.

Moreover she kept hearing a faint murmur and the need to find its source drove her deeper into the darkness.

An eternity later she was finally faced with what looked like a vertical surface. From the sliver of light coming from underneath it, Helena guessed it to be a door. Feeling slightly like she was in a scene from one of her favourite manga – and really hoping that she wasn't going to encounter any dead pharaoh with a bizarre hairdo – she hesitantly knocked on the door.

The murmur that had driven her forward suddenly stopped, replaced by an eerie silence that had her on edge. When a sudden crush was followed by a familiar voice cursing the bad luck, she finally understood where she was and who was standing behind that closed door.

"Master? It's me, Helena…Please open the door!"

The answer she received sounded more like garbled static than actual language, but she hadn't spent most of her life around Death Mask, without learning how to actually decipher the fine language of grunts and whines, especially if made over a pillow.

"I am not going anywhere, Master as you very well know! So you better drag your sorry ass over here to open this door, before I decide to take matters into my own hands and kick it down!"

When the silence dragged on, Helena started to seriously consider the best way to bring down the very solid looking door in front of her. Before she had started to make futuristic calculations about force, leverage, gravity and whatnot, the door finally opened a crack.

Finally! But before she could managed to wedge her foot in the crack and put all of her weight on it, the Master's unusually pained voice stopped her.

"Go away, Helena! It is not safe for you to be here! _I_ am not safe to be around! I beg of you, girl…go away! _Please…_"

Before that very moment, Helena had been sure she had heard all the possible variations of her Cloth's voice: she had heard him sardonic, sarcastic, commanding, gentle, sassy, pissed, happy and sad, but she had never, _ever_, heard him sound so desperately broken.

That had been the voice of a man who had seen the bottom and, instead of going back up, he had started to dig further.

"Don't be ridiculous, Master! No amount of begging will make me go away, and no amount of anything will make me believe, even for an instant, that you are dangerous to me or to anybody else!"

"Are you stupid girl? Did you, somehow, manage to miss the utter catastrophe that was my plan out there? Was I the only one who noticed that our battle got transferred also on the outside with Athena knows what kind of results?! The plan failed because I was to arrogant and I got my ass handed to me! Leave me here, Helena! I am not safe to be around!"

At those words, the young healer shoved her weight at the door, hoping to be able to budge it and get inside the room. When she wasn't able to move it even an inch, she angrily slammed her palm on it, which resulted in far more damage to her hand than to the door.

"You asked me if I was stupid, Master…well I think _you_ are the one who is an idiot! Did you really think it that things were going to be simple? That your plan would have worked without an itch? If so then you have disappointed me! Have you forgotten all the lessons _you_ gave me? Everything you ever told me about planning big things but always, always be prepared for them to go wrong? Well, this _was_ a big thing! And you forgot the fact that it _could_ go wrong! And it almost did!"

"What do you mean _almost_? There is no almost! It _went_ wrong, there is no other way to see it! That fucking Erisian beat me, I attacked you, attacked everybody else and we still haven't been able to deal the idiot with the hammer the finishing blow! How can you say that it _almost_ went wrong?"

A beat of silence. Then Helena started laughing, a full twinkling laugh that brought tears to her eyes. A chocking sound of disbelief came from the other side of door, and for less then a second the weight that was keeping the door closed was lifted. Taking advantage of the momentary advantage, Helena pushed the door with all her might. This time her desperate push produced the expected results and the young healer was finally able to insert first her foot in the crack and then her whole body.

Finally on the other side of the door, Helena wasted no time with sightseeing; any other day she would have been mightily interested in discovering her other half's inner thoughts, but in that very moment she had bigger fishes to fry.

"Tell me, Master, how many times do we need to have this exact conversation? Because let me tell you one thing: I love you half to death but I am growing tired of repeating the same things over and over again. You. Are. Not God! It doesn't really matter how much power you can wield, nor what you have or haven't done with it! It is of no consequence that your soul has walked the Earth for almost as long as the Earth has been around; you are a human being and because of that you are fallacious. In my humble opinion being human and fallacious is a far better option than being omnipotent as a deity! Nobody really expects you to be perfect, to always take the right decision, to always come up with the winning plan. Nobody, except you! Whether you have admitted it to yourself or not, you have been blaming yourself for a heck of a lot of things over the course of your long life, not in the least Elpida's situation and everything that stemmed from there. And now you are taking the full blame again! But let me tell you one thing now, Master: I will not let you get away with it this time! Yes, your plan failed. Yes, you attacked me. Yes, our internal fight spilled over and might have injured somebody outside. Yes, we still haven't gotten rid of the Erisian. _But…_ but Master, I stand by what I told you before: all is not lost!"

The derisive scoff that answered her speech had Helena roll her eyes so much that she almost thought the Master could hear her, even though he had his back turned.

"How can you be so sure, girl?"

"Because _we_ are still here…"

The silence that answered her soft-spoken sentence seemed to drag on forever. With his head in his hands and his back still turned from Helena, the Master took a minute to ponder over everything that his other half of the soul had told him. Could she be right? Was it really true that everything was _not_ lost? Would they really be able to make a difference in the end?

"How can you still believe in a positive outcome, Helena? Why do you think that we could make the difference? How do you know that we won't end up dead or worse?"

"You are mistaken, Master, if you think that I know anything… For all I know we are already dead, and our souls simply haven't received communication of it. But, if we aren't dead then this means that we still have a chance. At the risk of sounding like Seiya, until the moment that our last breath leaves our body, than we still have a fighting chance. Our plan hasn't failed yet, Master. We had already taken into consideration the fact that you could have been mightily affected by the Erisian's power. Even better we _had planned_ for it! There was the entire point of our strategy, of _your _strategy if you remember correctly! You were supposed to be the one affected and then I would have made the switch and be responsible for taking down our enemy! As far as I am concerned we have executed but half of our strategy!"

Unbidden, a smile was slowly forming on the Snake Master's lips. Still not ready to completely give in yet, though, the Ophiucus Cloth bitterly posed another question.

"What if we have lost too much time? After all we have been fighting each other and then talking for a long time…"

"I got the impression that time is a fickle thing inside a mind…we might be too late, we might be just in time. There no way to tell unless we stop wasting any more time here and we decide to continue what we set out to do in the first place!"

Whirling on the spot, Helena started to make her way to the exit of the room, fully intent of carrying on with the plan.

After less than a second of internal debate, the Master quickly rose to his feet and followed her.

"Assuming that you are right, my part is done. I played decoy and I drew Kayne's attention to us and, hopefully, I have fooled him into thinking that he has managed to trap the both of us under his spell. Now the floor is yours, Helena. How do you want to proceed?"

The feral smirk she graced him with chilled him to the bone for a second before he answered her with a toothy grin of his own. If he was reading her correctly, things were bound to get very interesting indeed.


	47. Dimenticarsi dei sopravvissuti

Death Mask was a biter and a kicker and Kanon was going to wear the bruises to prove it for a long long time. He and Saga had been the first to reach the fallen Cancer when Helena had managed to regain her senses long enough to grant them a small window of time to get their bruised companion on his feet and away from the Ophiucus Saint.

But Death Mask, once again proving to be a contrary idiot, had fought and struggled against them, screaming murder to the heavens because he felt that it was his duty to stay next to Helena.

On one hand Kanon could really understand Mask's point of view, but on the other hand the younger Gemini knew that if Cancer had stayed he might have ended up being killed by the out-of-control Ophiucus Saint, and Kanon was sure that Helena would have never forgiven herself if that happened.

That was why he had ignored the raging Saint, gritted his teeth against the flurry of kicks, and the occasional bite, that the Sicilian had seen fit to grace them with, and, in that moment, he was trying very hard not to blow a fuse under the barrage of curses and yelling that Death Mask was aiming towards them. He knew that Mask was worried about Helena, but that didn't mean that he had the right to attack them all.

Before anybody could decide to take offence to the _Karkinos_' less than polite spiel, a sharp crack resounded from the main part of the terrace, where Kayne still stood, watching the drama unfold under his very eyes.

When a pained yelp was followed by a familiar voice uttering familiar curses – Kanon felt himself cringe when he realized that spending her entire childhood with Death Mask was the main cause for the _interesting_ vocabulary choice that Helena was exhibiting – all the Gold Saints brought their attention back to the battle.

The scene in front of them left them all a bit speechless. Amidst a sea of broken rock spears, Kayne was propped upon one of them by what looked like rose vines. The ever present hammer was still in his hands, but he was not able to use it due to the solid looking block of ice that had encapsulated both the hand and the hammer.

Another sharp crack, this time followed by an awfully familiar pained yelp, brought everyone's attention to the small figure they could all see behind their enemy. Eyes wild and strong pain and fatigue etched on her face, Helena looked like hell. Kanon mused that she probably felt like it and a part of him wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in a soft fleece and hide her from the rest of the world.

"Stop standing there like morons, and HELP ME!"

Helena's half growl – half yell, managed to shake the Gold Saints into action. Camus burst his frigid Cosmo, to help Helena keep the hammer frozen solid and out of the way, while Milo launched his Scarlet Needle on the Erisian.

The other Saints, though, did not exhibit any sign about getting ready to join the fight any time soon, loitering in the side-lines without attacking, in fear of hitting Helena as well with their wide-range powers.

"What the _fuck _are you waiting for? Attack!"

"We cannot, Helena! If we do launch our attacks you'll be caught in the middle! Get away and we'll attack!"

"Get away? The _fuck_, Saga? If I release him, you'll never manage to hit him! Attack NOW! It doesn't matter if I am caught in the attack, DO IT!"

"Attack you? Are you mad, Helena? We cannot attack you! Just get away from there, we'll manage even if you don't keep him pinned!"

Helena could see that her order had shocked the Gold Saints, especially Kanon who was looking at his brother, trying to convey without words that they needed to get her out of the way before attacking.

She found his panicky reaction pretty adorable, but what he was suggesting wasn't feasible, and she knew that Saga was also aware of it.

"Saga! Don't be an idiot! You know that this is the only available choice! If I was anybody else you wouldn't have hesitated even a second before launching the attack! Why are you hesitating with me? Don't make me a special case Saga! If there was ever any truth in what you have always taught me, then ATTACK ME NOW!"

From the start of the fight, Saga's face had adopted a guarded expression, but at Helena's last remark it had gone blank like polished marble.

In all his years as Pope – both as Arles and as himself – he had never made a mystery about what he was willing to sacrifice for victory in a battle. The life of a single Saint had always been considered, in his scale, a more than acceptable sacrifice, especially if it meant the defeat of a powerful enemy. In that moment, though, every single one of his beliefs seemed to be mocking him: when finally faced with the real choice between one of his own brothers – and sister – and the defeat of their enemy, Saga found that what he had always preached had deserted him.

"Saga! It' going to be ok! Trust me! GIVE THE ORDER!"

Nothing was going to be ok, regardless of Helena's limitless optimism, and Saga was acutely aware of it. At the same time, though, the older Gemini knew that Athena had chosen him as Pope because he was intimately aware of the fact that, sometimes, winning a battle required a great sacrifice. Knowing that both the outcome of the battle and Athena's safety were in his hands, Saga took the only possible decision, fully aware of the fact that he was condemning Helena's to a painful death and himself to his brothers' well deserved hatred and scorn.

"Gold Saints, ATTACK NOW!"

The order had taken them all by surprise, so much that none of them had readily obeyed it.

"Saga, what the heck?! Are you mad? You cannot really be thinking about sacrificing her!"

"That's enough Gemini! You will not question my commands further! I said attack! DO IT NOW!"

The most private part of Saga's soul mourned the harsh tone he had been forced to use and the disastrous results it would sure wield in his relationship with his younger brother; but he was a Saint of Athena first and foremost, he was going to do what needed to be done, whatever the cost.

Just as he was starting to think that his orders were going to be ignored, Saga felt the rising of the Gemini Cosmo, alongside all the others.

With various expressions of regret or outright devastation etched on their faces, the Gold Saints finally released their strongest attacks towards their enemy and, unfortunately, one of their companions.

The white light of their attacks exploding on target, blinded them for almost a full minute and it was almost with bated breath that the Gold Saints waited to see whether or not they needed to start really planning a permanent goodbye for the Ophiucus Saint.

Death Mask was going to murder Helena, then he was going to bring her back from the dead and repeat the process for as many times needed for her to get through her thick skull that suicidal plans were not appreciated. First of all, though, they needed to have a long chat on soul possessions and how to control them, because it had been painfully clear to the Cancer Saint that whatever plan his protégé and her Cloth had concocted had suddenly and painfully gone awry. Had it been anybody else, Death Mask would not have risked his hide by getting too close to a venom-wielder madman with hair-trigger reflexes. But, unfortunately, the Sicilian had always had a soft spot for his favourite brat, and if playing the punching bag would help her, he was going to get beaten up as many times as it was necessary.

That didn't actually mean that he wasn't going to lecture the idiot till he was hoarse and she was bleeding from the ears from the sheer force of his yelling.

Although, Death Mask mused, the idiot needed to be alive in order to fully appreciate his dressing down and that meant he needed to step up and play the Guardian once again and save Helena's hide from the mess she had created with her own hands.

The Cancer Saint knew that he could count his blessings that, at least this time, Helena seemed to have an actual plan of action which was also comprised of an escape route for her – both Death Mask and Aphrodite still had nightmares about the times in which their young protégé had jumped into a fight without any thoughts about personal safety or, Athena forbid it, some backup.

Granted, he really didn't like her chosen escape route, since it relied a bit too much on pure dumb luck and his own ability to get to her in time. But since he had always been told that beggars couldn't be choosers – and he was damn proud and touched that Helena had placed all her faith in him – he vowed to do everything in his power to see her safely out of the mess.

Knowing that secrecy and speed were his only allies in what he was trying to do, Death Mask moved himself slightly outside Saga's field of vision and a little behind his fellow companions, so that the Pope would not drag him into the attack and, when they finally decided to unleash their powers, he could see the different trajectories of the attacks and try to avoid them.

Once the attacks were launched, Death Mask started to run towards Helena; he managed to barely get ahead of the other's attacks and in the nick of time before they blew them all to dust, he seized his charge's arm and activated his own powers, vanishing into the Yomotsou Hirasaka in an explosion of blinding white light.

"Wow! That was close! For a second I thought we were done for! It would have been…well…disappointing to say the least! But as always you managed a miracle, Mask! Thank you, you are the best!"

Death Mask knew he needed to keep his mouth shut, his eyes guarded, and his lips thinned into a non-smile that was neither approving, nor disapproving. After all experience had proven that a full blown shouting match between him and Helena, would not yield the desired results: it was far better to let to Aphrodite and his soft demeanour the ungrateful job of disciplining the hard-headed brat. Whenever he and Helena were pitched one against the other, the only results would be thoughtless and downright cruel comments, and one or both of them leaving the premises pissed beyond belief.

But in that moment Death Mask realized two things: one, Aphrodite was missing from the premises; two, everything that had happened had brought him to his breaking point. For his mental stability he needed to vent his frustrations and, hopefully, make Helena understand that her way of thinking could not be allowed to prosper.

"It would be disappointing you say? I say that it would have been downright stupid and selfish of you, but it would have possibly been the most fitting result of your entire imbecilic scheme!"

"What the fuck are you implying Death Mask? Speak plainly or remain silent!"

"Oh…now you want me to speak plainly? Are you sure you've got guts enough to withstand me speaking _plainly_?"

"Are you actually going somewhere with this, Cancer, or are you simply trying to goad me into a fight? Because if it's the second option then I urge you to rethink your plan, I am not in the mood for senseless banter!"

"Senseless banter?! You would call this _senseless banter_?! Listen to me, brat! Lately we have been far too much lenient with you. I get it that you've had a difficult life, that you are afraid of being left alone once more, that you think you are some immortal being who will never be wounded or, Athena forbid it, killed! News flash Heleiana: you. are. not! We have all had difficult lives – for Athena's sake, we have all underwent a horrible training during our childhood! – and believe me, you are not the only one who is afraid of the loneliness and the sense of abandonment! And yet you don't see us recklessly throwing away our lives given the first chance!"

The hissing sound coming from Helena told Death Mask that he had struck a nerve.

"Recklessly throwing away my life at the first chance? How dare you?"

"Then tell me it isn't true Helena! Tell me that fighting the Erisian without a Cloth wasn't reckless, that interposing yourself between Shaka and a spear wasn't reckless, that allowing a soul possession wasn't reckless, that becoming the target of a massive usage of Cosmo, just to take down one enemy, wasn't the epitome of reckless!"

"You dare tell me that what I did was reckless?! I did it for you! I did it so that you could keep on living and you mock me for it?"

"You did it for _us_? That's bullshit Helena, and you very well know it! You didn't do it for us! No, you did this for yourself! You said you wanted us to keep on living, but the truth is that it's _you_ the one who cannot keep on living! You never once thought about us, Helena, about what _we_ wanted! You simply thought about yourself and what _you_ wanted!"

The silence at the end of Death Mask's speech was deafening; Helena looked like she had been slapped and the Cancer Saint had to force himself to open his fists, before he drew blood from his hands.

There, he had said it. That speech had weighted heavily on his mind since their resurrection two years after the Hades _debacle_. He had watched the self-destructive spiral that Helena had willingly entered for more than three years, desperately wanting to yell at her until she regained her senses, but choosing every time to swallow everything down once again. But in that moment, after months of frustrated hopes and shattered dreams, Death Mask had decided to finally speak his mind and let the chips fall where they may.

The silence between them was stretching, and Helena's eyes still looked empty and vacant. Cancer was no stranger to silence and in that moment he was too relieved by the fact that Helena had not started yelling to be really bothered by the prolonged absence of sound.

In the meantime Helena was using that same silence to make a thorough, and probably very overdue, revision of her life choices.

As much as she wanted to yell at Death Mask and then punch him for his apparently rude and insulting remarks, she knew she really couldn't; denial was a very nice thing, but Helena was aware that she wallowed in it for far too much time to keep on going.

It hurt her already bruised pride to admit it, but Death Mask was absolutely right: she had become such a spoiled brat, that it was almost painful to remember it.

What she had told Death Mask had been a pitiful and selfish excuse. The Cancer Saint was right: everything she had done up until that point had been driven by her own selfishness and need. It was said that a good choice done for the wrong reasons was still a good choice, but Helena had always been aware that the truth was the opposite: a good choice made for the wrong reasons, in the end becomes a bad choice. There was no alternative.

She could have kept telling herself that she had decided to sacrifice herself in order to let her brothers live the life they had been painfully denied the first time, but deep down in her soul, Helena was aware that the decision to sacrifice herself was a cowardly one. Because dying for somebody else took courage, yes, but it was living on after somebody you loved had died that really took guts.

Somewhere along the long years of solitude, Helena had become a coward, easily dismissing her own life so she wasn't forced to live alone with herself once more.

Trapped by her own fear she had forgotten one important thing: the survivors. The raven-haired girl had forgotten how it had felt when she had realized she was the only surviving Gold Saint. She had forgotten how angry she had been when they had all decided to sacrifice their lives in order to break down the Wall of Lament. It had taken her many nights awake in the dark to finally come to terms with the fact that there had been no other solution, no other way for them to perform their duties to Athena without laying down their lives.

Laughing mirthlessly to herself she shook her head at her own stupidity. When the Gold Saints had died in Hades, they had not known the consequences of their actions; they had only known that their sacrifice would help Athena in the end, and that it was all that had mattered.

But Helena _knew_ better! She had been the last one standing in a sea of death, alone and forgotten. She was intimately aware of the mind-numbing loss that came from having a soul connection shattered – it made no difference if it was a single one or all of them, the pain was similarly unbearable – and yet she had forgotten the fact that soul connections were a two-way street: if she had died, her brothers would have suffered just as much as she had suffered when all of the connections had snapped.

She had already risked too much when she had accepted Minos' proposal and had decided to retire from her life as a Saint – she would never tell her brothers the truth, but regardless of what she had told Milo, she would have kept her connections with them until death did them apart. But what she had risked with Minos had been her last resort, much like sacrificing their lives at the Wall of Lament had been for the others; had she not done so, Helena was sure she would have ended up really dead, and that was probably why Death Mask had not objected to her choice, or to the fact that she had willingly chosen to recount a story that would end up with her dead – Helena had seen it in his eyes that he had very much wanted to protest, and loudly, but they were both Saints of Athena, and protecting the Goddess at the expense of their own life, was something they were all too familiar with.

But if the story and its aftermath had been a calculated risk, what she had done later, in the battle against Kayne, had been pure and simple recklessness.

She couldn't even be mad at Death Mask because he had yelled at her; Helena was painfully aware of the fact that, had it been one of the others who had tried the things she had done, she would have skinned him alive, both verbally and physically.

"You are right…"

The words had been so soft that Death Mask almost missed them entirely. Had he really heard it right? Could it really be that Helena had, finally – _finally_ – acknowledged what he had been trying to tell her for years? Could he really hope?

"So…you finally saw the light, didn't you?"

What the fuck was wrong with him?! Helena was a flight risk every time they ended talking about serious matters in a _serious_ tone; she was going to disappear in a huff if she thought he was mocking her!

Frantically trying to backpedal a little – and fervently hoping to any deity listening that he hadn't completely botched his one and only chance forever – he almost missed her quiet laugh.

"Don't let it go to your head, Mask! Your ego is big enough as it is! Any more and you won't fit through the doors… And, by the way, stop looking so scared that I might run if you say the wrong thing: I admit that our chats in the past have almost always taken an unsavoury turn, but even I have enough sense to give credit when credit is due, or even _over_due in this case. I repeat: you were right. In my selfish haste of trying never to live that nightmare again, I had forgotten the most important thing of all…"

Death Mask waited, still as a statue, with bated breath for Helena to finish: even if she ended up not saying what he had in mind, what she had already said was more than he had ever hoped. And if he was able not to destroy it completely, then they might have a chance of picking up were they left off.

"…That _you_ would end up feeling exactly how I had felt, and was desperately trying not to feel ever again!"

At that all the air left his lungs via a low, slightly hysterical, chuckle that had Helena rise one single, finely shaped eyebrow at him.

"Sorry, sorry…I am not laughing _at_ you, I swear! It's simply that I was just telling to myself that whatever you were going to say would have been fine, because it would have meant that you had at least acknowledge the problem. And then you go and blow directly out of the water whatever thoughts I had with your proclamation, that is all I have ever wanted you to acknowledge and so much more!"

At that, unexpected, proclamation it was Helena's turn to quietly laugh.

"We make quite the pair, don't you agree Death Mask?"

"You are probably right…but still I have to tell you one thing: when I said that I wanted you to acknowledge our sufferings, it wasn't because I was trying to guilt-trip you into anything Helena, you have to believe me. You are very dear to us, and I am sure that, in time, we would have been able to overcome our grief over your loss. But, and I think you are aware of this, if there is a reason – something we can all relate to – behind the choice of death than everything becomes much easier to deal with. A reason does not mitigate the loss in the slightest, but it tends to keep the nightmares and the guilt at bay. I know that you would never consciously endanger us, but sometimes we can hurt others unknowingly and the pain is just as sharp."

Both fell silent for a moment, each one lost in his or her own little world of contemplation.

"I never wanted to cause you pain, but I ended up doing it anyway, and for that I am very sorry! I cannot promise you that a day like today will not happen ever again, because it would be stupid of me to lie to you. I will always place your safety before mine, and I don't think I want to change the fact. What I can promise you, though, is that I will not squander my life needlessly and that, if there is another viable solution, I will take it!"

If he had been able to choose, Death Mask might have wanted Helena to make the promise of never try to die anymore, but he knew that it would have been selfish on his part. He understood where she was coming from, and what she had promised him, would be enough.

"The fact that you have realized the full weight of your actions is enough for me. I might wish to lock you away somewhere safe, but that would only be selfish on my part. I understand your desire not to lose anyone, but just remember that we would be just as sad if anything were to happen to you!"

"I promise I'll remember it, and if I forget will you be there to remind me?"

"Always!"

In the wasteland of the Yomotsou Hirasaka, Death Mask opened his arms and Helena wasted no time in jumping on him.

When he finally felt reassured enough of the fact that she wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon, he released her. In that moment his mind caught up with the nagging feeling he had been having since he had laid eyes on her.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be ensconced in Hell, commanding your own platoon of Spectres?"

"The fact that you would think that I have a platoon of Spectres under my command is intriguing! But before I answer your question, I suggest we relocate somewhere different, so that I can tell you all without having to repeat myself!"

Grinning slightly, Death Mask concentrated his Cosmo and, upon opening their eyes once more, they were greeted by the muted light of the sundown and the bewildered faces of the other Gold Saints.

"Helena?!"

"Hi, guys! What's with the long faces? Did you really think I was dead? Oh, c'mon! That's all the faith you have in me? I had everything under control, and I had one of my Guardians beside me, so I was totally fine!"

Deciding not to call on her bullshit in front of the others – after all they didn't need to know everything and he and Aphrodite were perfectly suited to the task of keeping Helena safe – Death Mask hung back and let Helena enjoy the company of the others.

When his eyes locked with Aphrodite's blues, he smiled and inclined his head, silently conveying everything that had transpired.

He felt, more than see, Aphrodite big sunny smile and he finally felt that everything was alright in his world.

With a big smile of his own he let Helena tug him towards the others and he joined them in their happiness for the victory they had achieved.


	48. Ho detto SI!

"Ouch, ouch, ouch…OUCH! Would you stop poking me like I am some kind of squishy animal, Helena? It hurts _everywhere_! There is no need for you to check every single wound!"

"Would you stop being so _melodramatic_, Milo? I am barely touching you and yet you have raised your defences worse than a porcupine!"

The comic interlude had actually been hilarious the first time they had borne witness to it, but after almost an hour, even the most unflappable Gold Saints were starting to lose their patience over the scene. If the constant twitching in his dominant hand was any indication, Camus was more than ready to freeze his boyfriend solid, in order to allow Helena to properly see to his wounds without him being an idiot. The Scorpion Saint might not act like it, but he had been injured badly in the fight with the Erisian, and the Aquarius Saint wanted nothing more than to have their resident healer look at him and possibly restore him to full health.

A sudden bright light followed by a yelp, told everyone that Helena had decided to take matters in her own hands, and had forced the unruly scorpion to be healed one way or the other.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, right Milo? Next time spare us both the trouble and let me heal you right away, ok?"

The highly offended look that she got in return was unbearably cute – not that she was _ever _going to tell him that – as was Milo's struggle to remain cool and unaffected by her return. Helena was aware that she had deeply cut him with her sudden disappearance – alongside with her adamant refusal to have them part of her new life – and she had every intention of making amends with them. Mask had been right of course – the man was surprisingly insightful when he put his mind to it, even if nobody really believed it – she had hurt them when she had chosen to marry Minos, but they had understood somehow; what had hurt them the most, though, had been her decision to sacrifice herself in order to bring down the enemy. Worst of all, Helena feared she might have destroyed the relationship between Saga and Kanon with her stupidly selfish act.

\- One step at a time, girl. Everything will solve itself, you'll see…I think that now, though, you have another, slightly bigger problem to deal…-

With a dejected sigh, Helena looked at the door behind which, she knew, Aphrodite and Death Mask were talking.

At the end of the battle, it had taken less than a second for both Helena and Death Mask, to realize that they needed to count Aphrodite with the gravely injured. The man didn't seem to have a single scratch on himself – both Helena and Death Mask had breathed a little easier at that – but whatever the hell Eris had done to him, it had hurt him far more than being gutted.

Given the nature of the injury, ordinarily, they would have gone both to fish out their third member from his pond of self-hatred and pity, but this time all the other Saints had been injured as well, and for this reason Helena had chosen to stay and heal them, and Death Mask had taken Dite someplace else, to see to the damage.

Helena knew that there was no one better suited than Death Mask in dealing with a beaten Aphrodite – and she had faith that they would both come back into the room all right – but being left behind, even for something as important as healing the others, was making her anxious.

"They'll be fine…You'll see, in no time Dite will come back to shatter our peace of mind with some outrageous outfit or another…"

"Now he comforts her…Nice and easy way to appease your conscience, right Saga?"

SLAP!

Silence _was_ deafening and Helena would ruin everybody who sustained the contrary. Like right in that moment, her ears were ringing worse that if she had spent the entire day at a full-volume rock concert. She was sure that even Kanon would agree with her, even if she had the distinct feeling that his ringing was due more to the slap she had gifted him, than with the almost unpleasant silence at her act.

"So you have chosen your side, Helena! You always protect him, you always defend him, even if he hurts you, or ignores you! Why do you do this, Helena? Why is it always him?"

"Because I know how he felt when he gave that order, Kanon…"

"What?!"

This time the disbelieved question had come from the other wearer of the Gemini Cloth, and the small sad smile Helena had given him as answer, hadn't been enough to appease the guilt churning his stomach.

"Did you really think that in the years I have been Pope, I never had to take this kind of decisions? That I never had to choose between who lived and who might die? That I have never sent my own brother, blood of my blood, into practically a suicidal situation because he is the Pegasus and if he couldn't solve it, who else really could?"

"But, but…he ordered your assassination! He weighted your life on a scale and decided you were worth the sacrifice! I don't care what you say, Helena! I am sure that when you sent Seiya on those missions, you had no other choice! In this case, I am sure there could have been another solution! We never even started looking for it!"

Kanon was right, of course…Just as Death Mask had pointed out earlier, she had taken away from them the possibility of looking for another change, forcing Saga into taking what she thought was the best solution. Granted, Helena – as well as the others – would never really know if there could have been another method to end the madness. Regardless of whether the choice was forced or not, the Ophiucus Saint knew she had to make them understand one thing before everything started to go out of control. Knowing that simply telling them the truth would never do, Helena realized that the only path left open in front of her, was to make them all – Kanon first of all – think about the choice by themselves and draw their own conclusions.

"You are quite right, Kanon! We never even started to look for another solution, and that is my fault, not Saga's. I had decided a long time ago that my life was an acceptable price for giving you the life you deserved and that had been brutally ripped from you. Someone made me realize that, doing so, I would end up hurting you more than I have ever meant to. I am sorry, not about deciding to save you, whatever the cost, but for not thinking I could hurt you with my death and for not trying to find a different solution…"

She could see that the others had started to draw breath to bury her under a barrage of well-meant but ill-timed questions and so she pushed forward.

"…_but_ I think there is something you all need to realize and quickly at that too. Who are we?"

If the situation had not been so serious and dire, Helena would have chuckled at the baffled expressions of the other Saints. After what looked like a long, painful and unsure thought process – and she was willing to bet that at least half of them were questioning her sanity – Kanon finally decided to breach the silence.

"We are Saints of Athena. But why?"

Deciding to ignore him for the time being, Helena ploughed on.

"What is our most important mission?"

A little quicker on the uptake, this time it was Aioria who answered.

"Protect Athena and everything she stands for!"

Refraining from uttering the 'Atta-boy' she could feel on the tip of her tongue, Helena simply smiled at the eager lion.

"How do we protect Athena and what she stands for?"

As if sensing where she was going to the impromptu quiz, Mu answered.

"With every and any mean necessary…"

"And are our lives a suitable price to pay to fulfil our mission?"

"Only if _all_ other options have been taken into consideration and deemed useless or dangerous."

For all his aloof demeanour and his strong desire to purge himself of any emotion, Shaka could still do the pissed off teacher routine very well. But since she knew she deserved it, Helena decided to remain silent and take the disapproval in stride.

"Of course! All options must be exhausted before offering up one's life as a sacrifice. But you all agree with me that, if necessary, dying in the name of Athena, is an acceptable course of action. After all you all chose that path at least one time in your life, right? So Kanon…am I not a Saint?"

The question had taken them by surprise, that much was clear.

"What?! Of course not, Helena! You are a Saint, the Ophiucus Saint! But…"

"If there had been another in my same position, say Shura, would you have made the same fuss you did, before using your powers to kill Kayne?"

Time seemed to slow down; Helena could see very well that Kanon and the others really wanted to tell her yes, that they would have kicked up the same fuss, but they really couldn't. They had all agreed long ago that sacrificing their lives to bring down an enemy and let the others go on, was acceptable.

"You don't have to answer me Kanon, for I see the answer clearly in all your eyes. Why am I so special? It's because you don't trust me? Because you think I am weak? Why can't you see me as you equal? Am I not powerful enough? Have I not proven myself over and over again to all of you? You trained me, and yet you do not let me go like you did for all your other students. Why is that?"

"It's not that we don't trust you, dear one…"

She must have made quite an impression on them, if Aldebaran had decided to speak up. For all his strength and outward mean appearance, the Taurus Saint had a gentle and timid soul, and usually preferred to voice his opinions in a private audience.

"…but if Athena represents justice and equality and forgiveness, for us you represent innocence, trust, childlike excitement. Losing Athena would destroy us completely, but losing you would be like crushing a part of our souls. You incarnate our childhood dreams and hopes and everything we had to sacrifice on Athena's altar. Sacrificing you would mean to lose innocence all over again…"

Boy when they put it _that _way, it suddenly became harder to be mad at them!

Sighing once more, Helena steeled herself for what she needed to say.

"I actually never knew that you thought of me _that_, and I am flattered and awed and touched in my heart! But you have to understand one thing: I am a Saint of Athena as well! I am a warrior, not some sheltered lady who has never seen hardship in her life. I have seen wars – heck I have participated in them! – I have seen death and blood and gore. I have eaten the stale bread of the soldier and slept under the canopy of the stars and on the hard ground. I am your equal, and for all I am flattered that you think of me in those terms, I am not innocent and I will not let you insult my honour any more!"

"But…"

"No, Aioros let me finish! As flattering as what Aldebaran said is, if you think that of me, than you aren't really _seeing_ me! I cannot and I will not let you continue this way! I worked hard, harder than anybody else, to prove my worth, I will not let you continue to ignore my choices!"

She hadn't really meant to yell at them, but their way of thinking had struck a cord deep inside her soul. It had triggered unpleasant memories of never being enough, never being what the others were expecting.

"You are right…"

Given the unlikely source who had spoken, for a moment Helena thought she had heard wrong. But when all the others turned towards the usually silent figure of Shura, the young healer figured that she had really heard him right the first time.

That Shura had decided to speak up was unusual in of itself, for the Capricorn Saint rarely felt the need to speak up his mind, especially not in front of the Gold Saints at large. That the swordsman had decided to speak up in her defence…well that was almost unheard of! Shura believed that every human had the capacity of making their dreams come true by working hard by themselves. He thought that relying on others for help was dishonourable and a sure way to prove oneself unworthy of whatever dream he or she was chasing. For this reason he very rarely chose to speak up on behalf of somebody else: that he had chosen to do it, in that moment, for her, touched Helena far more than any words could ever do.

"Shura, what are you saying?"

"Simply the truth, Aioros…Helena is right. She is a Saint of Athena as much as you or I am. You would have never put up such a fuss for anybody else; hell, you didn't even blink when Aioria was almost fried to death by Loki, in the futile attempt to stop the Gungnir Spear from appearing!"

With an uncharacteristic move, the Sagittarius Saint glowered towards Capricorn.

"I hope you aren't implying that I didn't care about what happened to my brother, Shura!"

"I am not implying anything of the sort, Aioros, so stand down! Everybody knew then, and knows now that you care for Aioria! But that's exactly the point I am trying to make here: while still caring for Aioria, you recognized the fact that there was something only he could do, and you let him go. I don't want to presume, but I think that for you he is much more than a mere brother, am I right?"

The Capricorn Saint was right: orphaned at a very young age, and left with the care of his baby brother, Aioros had poured all his love into tiny Aioria. A love than even his commitment to Athena hadn't been able to eradicate.

"No, you are right, Shura. For many years Aioria has been my entire family, and even now he has a special place in my heart! But I know his strength and, while I really want to protect him forever, I trust in the fact that he can protect himself and protect Athena and…OH…"

Leaving the sentence hanging, the Golden Archer looked up first to the Capricorn Saint – who had a not-smirk on his face that belied the overall disinterest that Shura seemed to have for the entire conversation – and then he slowly turned to face the young Ophiucus Saint.

"You do know that we trust you, right?"

"Do you?"

The answer made him cringe because, for the first time in years, the Sagittarius Saint realized that Helena still harboured a lot of insecurities towards her role, towards their friendship and trust, towards every situation that might leave her without the family she obviously craved.

In the background Aioros could faintly make out the other Saints, probably looking as stricken as he felt, all of them realizing in that moment that the youngest member of their group – for she was definitely part of their small and dysfunctional family – didn't believe that she had a place with them.

"You know…we only wanted to protect you…I don't think any of us realized that what we were doing could be mistaken for a lack of trust in you. We might not have started off with the right foot, but you had my full and absolute trust from the moment I finally managed to get my head out of my ass and get to know you."

As if Aioros' words had opened some sort of dam, the others quickly joined him in reassuring their precious little sister that theirs had only been overprotectiveness, not a lack of trust in her.

The group hug that had followed their heartfelt proclamations and Helena's own mini-meltdown, was a delicate jigsaw puzzle in order not to snag the Cloths together, but none of them seemed to really mind the difficulty, too focused on strengthening their bonds.

"Does this mean that you will stop treating me like I am made of glass, and start viewing me as a full-fledged Gold Saint, capable of taking risks and coming out on top?"

"That depends entirely on whether or not you stop your suicidal crusade, and start valuing your own life more!"

The light scolding had come from the deceptively pacific Aries Saint, but the cheeky tone in which it was delivered was enough to take some of the edge off.

Helena couldn't really blame him or get too mad; some of the stuff she had done over the years would have had her own wrath over the head of the idiot who had tried it, and so she couldn't really complain if somebody else scolded her for something she would have scolded anyone else. Plus, now that they had finally cleared the air around them, she could see their scolding just for the loving kind of warning that it was, not the harsh judgement that she had always thought it.

"We have a deal then Mu! I cannot promise you that my self-sacrificing tendencies are going to disappear overnight, or at all, but I can promise that I will value my life more from now on!"

After that, there was nothing more to say, except for one thing:

"Kanon…don't be mad at Saga… he only did what needed to be done. And take it from my experience: sometimes there are no right choices, only less wrong ones…"

Helena knew she had no right to interfere in the personal relationship between the twins, but it had been her decision, and she was damned if she didn't try to fix her mistake.

Sighing heavily once, Kanon fixed his blue-green orbs in Saga's own. After ten seconds of agonizing silence, right before Helena herself decided to intervene, Kanon finally broke eye-contact and spoke:

"If you bark an order at me like that again, Saga…Athena help me, your face is going to decorate the entrance of the Third House, am I clear?"

At the outburst, Saga could only nod in response, clearly cowed by his younger brother rather picturesque threat, even if the snickers he could hear coming from the other Saints, kind of ruined the overall atmosphere.

In the midst of the general, if rather suffocated, mirth, nobody noticed the doors opening and the two missing Saints sliding inside the room.

"What have we missed?"

While the voice was still rather far from the usually chirpy and bright tones that had always characterized the Pisces Saint, Helena could tell that whatever Death Mask had done, had been enough to bring Aphrodite back from the brink.

"Dite! You are back! Are you ok?"

Bounding happily towards her beloved Guardian, Helena couldn't help but be pleased to note that the Pisces Saint while still battered and little bit worse for wear, seemed to glow internally with a light that only pure and unbridled joy could give to people. What had really happened between him and Death Mask? Could the Cancer Saint really have done _that_?

Almost as if he had heard her internal monologue, Aphrodite put her down – all the while keeping her within arms reach – and with a quick glance around the room so that everyone knew they were included in whatever Pisces had to say, fixed his light-blue eyes in Helena's lilac ones.

"Helena…guys…I said _yes_!"


	49. Una lunga notte

_"__Helena…guys…I said yes!"_

Helena's high pitched squeal had perforated their eardrums – and what they had managed to salvage had been completely destroyed when also Aphrodite had joined the young healer in the screaming – but none of them made a move to quell the girl's obvious happiness. A minor discomfort as it was, it was easily bearable in front of the pure and unbridled joy of two members of their family.

Stopping to catch her breath, Helena's eyes fell on the lone figure still bathed in the shadows, as if he had decided to let Aphrodite enjoy the spotlight – and knowing Death Mask it had probably been exactly that. While less flamboyant than his boyfriend – no _fiancé_, was the correct term after what had transpired, and Helena could not have been happier – the Cancer Saint still sported one of the softest, happiest smiles that the healer had ever seen on him.

"I'd say it was about time! I was afraid I was going to get old and grey before he summoned the courage to ask!"

The offhand comment earned Helena one positively murderous growl from Death Mask and a quizzically raised brow from Aphrodite.

But before the warrior of beauty could ask what she had meant with her statement, Aioria's bewildered voice butted in.

"At the risk of being the idiot over here…what did you say yes to, Aphrodite?"

That Aioria had never been the brightest pea in the pod wasn't a surprise; nor it had been a surprise the fact that neither Milo, nor Shaka had fully grasped the not so cryptic meaning of Aphrodite's words. Of the three idiots, Helena knew that they had to forgive Shaka for the obvious oversight, but after all the man had zero experience with human emotions and sayings so the last statement must have zoomed way past his pretty little blond head. That neither Milo nor Aioria had understood something so simple, well…nobody could really blame Helena if she ended up making fun of them, especially since Scorpio's misunderstanding was well on its was to mortally offend Camus.

"I asked Dite to marry me, and he said yes…end of story!"

As always Death Mask had a gift for stating things in the most obvious, blunt and rude way possible, but this time it was nigh impossible not to hear the wonder in his voice, as if he had expected refusal and he was still trying to figure out how it had been possible that Aphrodite had said yes to him of all people.

The sight of the two idiots chocking on their spit – Shaka had simply inclined his head as if in thanks for the explanation and had promptly dismissed the entire conversation from his mind – would never cease to amuse her, but in that moment Helena wanted answers to her own questions.

"Soooo…."

Dragging the last vowel and smiling like a cat that had caught a canary, told Death Mask that, whatever was going to come out from Helena's mouth, would not bode very well for him. Not at all.

"I want _details_! Everything! What he said, how he said it, did he go down on one knee, did he swear, was it romantic, did you cry, did _he_ cry…you know _everything_!"

Death Mask knew he was dead. The manic gleam in Helena's eyes was reflected and enhanced in Aphrodite's own orbs, and the Cancer Saint just knew that whatever those two were about to concoct would be the death of him, and his pride.

Before he could intervene and stop the apocalypse that he knew was coming, the door opened once more and Athena walked in the room.

"Why are you asking for details, Helena? What happened?"

Nonchalantly flipping her long hair to the side, Helena grinned at the Goddess, showing a hint of fangs that did not bode well for anyone.

"Nothing much, Saori dear! Aphrodite said yes…"

In the two seconds of silence that had followed that statement, Death Mask realized he was dead. There had never been a specific rule in Sanctuary banning two Saints from spending their time together, even in a mutually exclusive arrangement; but wedding between two Saints – and two Gold Saints at that – was never even mentioned in those rules, as if the mere thought of it had not even been a possibility.

And, Death Mask reasoned, how could it be? If the Gold Saints were responsible for the safety of Athena, how could they develop a relationship that, one day, might make them question their loyalty to the Goddess? How are you supposed to keep saving someone, when the love of your life is in danger? That was why relationships in Sanctuary, while not explicitly banned, had been highly not recommended. And yet Death Mask had gone and done the one thing nobody had done before, and now he was afraid that his selfish desire would only result in banishment for him and Aphrodite.

"He asked? _Finally_! I thought he was never going to do it! Though, now that he has done it, I wish he could have waited a little bit more…after all, I hate when I owe you money, Helena!"

Death Mask must have heard wrong! He was sure of it! There could be no other explanation than a rather sudden loss of hearing on his part. Because he couldn't have heard Athena saying what she had said; he couldn't have heard the unmistakable joy in his Goddess' voice; and he definitely couldn't have heard right when she had said that she had betted, _betted_, with Helena on how much time it would have taken him to propose!

She probably had said something along the lines of their banishment from Sanctuary, their loss of their position of Guardians; she really couldn't have said anything else. And yet, when he finally dared to look at her properly, she didn't seem angry at all. On the contrary, she was _radiant_! How was it possible?

Before he had time to process everything and ask his own questions, Athena beat him to the punch.

"There is no need to make that worried expression, Death Mask! I am not about to cast you out from Sanctuary or deprive you of your positions! I know that, technically, the rules would not allow such a deep bond between two of my Saints, but I think we can all agree that _I am_ the rules, so decision's mine right? Of course, the rules of engagement do not change, and if you feel that your safety comes before your mission, then I have to ask you to leave, but you'll always be welcome and cherished as friends and family…"

Death Mask was seriously considering a visit to the doctor, because this difficulty in hearing what was being said was starting to become problematic. Athena could not have said what he thought she had said; his Goddess, the one to whom he had been bound for almost all his life, whether he wanted it or not, could not just have offered him – and Aphrodite – an out from their lives as Saints. But apparently she had if he was judging Dite's mind-blown expression correctly.

Truth to be told, Death Mask had wanted out from the minute his training had started, at the base of the Etna. He had wanted revenge for his family, yes, but the bloody training he had been subjected to, had never been part of his wish. Things had gone marginally better when he had finally gained a place as a Gold Saint, and Arles had let him indulge in his bloody fantasies – which he still had to curb because he had found he couldn't really stand Helena's kicked puppy expression. Then things had started to go from bad to worse: he had died, not once, not twice, but four times in a row, and so had Aphrodite. And on top of it, he felt guilty because he had known they had left Helena alone.

When they had been resurrected, three years after their deaths, there had been no talk of quitting, and it wouldn't have been right: they had wronged their Goddess, and it was time to make amends.

But now, almost three years later, the situation was very different. They had made amends, they had repaid their debts a hundred times over. Athena was safe, the world was at peace, and Helena had found her perfect knight in armour – even if the idea still left a bitter taste in Mask's mouth. He could technically retire, and nobody would say a thing.

Even now, just after Athena had come out with her outrageous offer, nobody was saying anything. They were all looking at them, kind smile on their faces, not a single trace of mockery in their demeanours. They wouldn't judge, Death Mask knew this, they would only support them.

He could take Aphrodite away from a life of blood and battle, to a place where he could recover without the fear of being shattered again.

Death Mask could see that Aphrodite was considering the idea, mulling it over in his pretty little head, trying it on for size. He could almost picture it: him and Dite, in a nice little house under the Sicilian sun. The albino man was almost positive that they could convince Helena to come with them – after all she had already left Athena's ranks – and so they could spend the reminders of their lives together and safe.

Maybe the others would join them, maybe not. Maybe they would lose touch with each others, but those things are wont to happen at some point in life, right? You move on, and you make new friends.

Except that the concept of moving on and making new friends, didn't sit very well with Death Mask. Somehow from the lone wolf he had started out as, the moody Cancer Saint had become a pack animal, one that did not want to leave his pack behind.

And what would he do for the rest of his life in that house? Would he be happy with a normal job like a normal person? No battles, no saving the word at strange hours, no celebratory drinks all together when they had won.

Suddenly Death Mask realized that he didn't want that. He had come to like his new and improved life at Sanctuary – if hard pressed he could even say love it – and he didn't want to lose it.

A quick glance towards Helena told him that the girl wasn't going to interfere one way or the other, and that she would simply love them to death whatever choice they ended up making.

Things were bound to change, but Death Mask didn't want them to shatter.

They say that holding an entire communication with only your eyes is the symbol that you are a good couple. Death Mask didn't know if that was true, but it did come in handy sometime. Like in that moment, when he and Aphrodite locked eyes and he saw in those light orbs the same conviction he could feel in his bones.

"The rules of engagement stay the same! We made it until now, I don't think we'll have problems from now on, Athena!"

The smile that had graced Athena's lips at Aphrodite's proclamation could have lightened up the entire room with its brightness.

"Perfect then! I always wanted to perform a wedding ceremony!"

As if those words had been the signal that everybody was waiting for, a loud cheer erupted from the rest of the Gold Saints.

He would never admit it out loud, but Death Mask would cherish his brothers' congratulations till the end of his time, especially the blinding smile Helena had addressed him.

This didn't mean that he didn't want to strangle them all, when Helena, in all her wickedness, told Aphrodite, in no uncertain terms, that he needed to share all the details about what had transpired between them. Recognizing the glint in Aphrodite's eyes for what it was, Death Mask was sure he would be dead from embarrassment before the day was out. Oh well, at least he would die in the company of his beloved family!

It was only quite some time later that Aphrodite finally had the chance to corner Helena alone and ask her the question he had been dying to ask since he had first entered the room to give them all the good news. Gently taking her arm, he politely disengaged her from the rather animated debate she was having with none other that the Capricorn Saint, and moved them both to a quiet alcove near the back of the room.

"If you wanted to ask me something, Dite, there was no need to be this secretive…"

When her joke fell flat and she took stock of her brother's rather troubled expression, Helena immediately shut up and patiently waited for her Guardian to make up his mind and ask her what he wanted to know.

After almost a full minute of pained silence, and when she was just about to ask him directly what was wrong, Aphrodite decided to speak.

"What did you mean when you said that you were afraid that you were going to get old and grey before Death Mask asked me to marry him?"

Not really understanding where Dite was really going with his question, Helena answered truthfully, figuring that now that her two Guardians were pledged there was no need to really keep the secret.

"Nothing much, dear heart…This is not a spur-of-the-moment decision for Death Mask. He has been planning this moment for ages Aphrodite! I don't know when he really started thinking about it, the only thing I know for sure is that he talked to me about it more than a year ago. It took him so long to actually come down and ask you because it took me months to finish the ring like he wanted to. And then I went and got kidnapped and I probably threw a wrench in his plans, and I almost got killed and disappeared from your life and he probably didn't think that would have been the best moment and…"

But Aphrodite wasn't listening to her anymore. His mind – and his heart – had stopped when she had mentioned the fact that the Cancer Saint had been planning that proposal for months.

Catching onto the fact that he had stopped listening to her, too caught up into his own world, Helena stopped talking and took a moment to really observed her younger Guardian. Luckily he hadn't sustained any major wounds in their confrontation with Eris, and his skin tone, while still very pallid, was starting to take a healthier rosy tint. His face, though, was still looking troubled and, to Helena's horror, he looked closer to tears.

"Dite, darling, beloved brother, light of my life…please stop crying! If Death Mask notices you are crying he'll come over and kill me in the bloodiest way possible, and then Minos will have to kill him to avenge my death and then you'll have to kill Minos to avenge Mask's death and there will be a new war between Sanctuary and Hell and Kanon and Rhadamantis will face each other in a duel and…"

This time it was the sound of laughter that stopped her. It had started out almost inaudible and then it had exploded in a full belly laugh, completed with tears leaking from Aphrodite's sky blue eyes.

Helena could see that Death Mask was looking at them weirdly and it would not take long before the Cancer Saint decided to come and check in person what was all that fuss about.

"Aphrodite? Not that I don't appreciate you laughing, even if it is at my expense, but would you mind telling me what this conversation has been all about? You know, just so I am prepared when Mask will come here, demanding an explanation…"

Drying his still teary eyes, Aphrodite smiled reassuringly at his fiancé – thus insuring their privacy for at least another ten minutes – and then answered his baby sister.

"You know... When I was young I thought that you were only a boring young child with a talent for meddling and an inclination towards mischief. I thought you would be the death of me, but more than ten years later I need to thoroughly revise that stupid and ignorant sentiment. You haven't been the death of me… on the contrary you have given me life! Without you, I wouldn't have had the strength to get to where I am now, and if the demons of the past seem a distant thing most of the times I owe it all to you, and to Death Mask…"

Stopping a second to dry the lone tear that had escaped from Helena's eyes, he smiled at her once more before continuing his story.

"Even now, what you told me, has given me new strength. You see, I had asked you what you meant because I wanted to know something. When Mask proposed he told me that he was going to do that on this occasion not only regardless of the fact that it was unromantic as hell because I was still feeling the after effects of what Eris had told me, but exactly _because_ of that. He told me that he thought that this was the only way to convince me that he _wanted_ me not just in spite of my faults, but because of them! I thought he was just being melodramatic and I almost refused him because I thought he was doing it out of some misguided pity, but in the end I really couldn't tell him no. I would have lived with this doubt all my life, had you not told me that Mask had been trying to propose for more than a year. Now I know that his question was not guided by pity, but it was his way to let me know that he genuinely wanted me by his side, for better and for worse…"

Helena knew she wasn't supposed to cry. That if she did cry Death Mask would instantly come over and he would be terribly embarrassed by what Aphrodite had just told her. But how could she not cry in front of such a romantic story? For all his rude proclamations of hating anything even remotely romantic, telling Aphrodite that he was proposing while he was in such a mentally instable state, just so Dite knew that Mask was being serious…well that topped even Minos' own proposal!

Satisfied that her beloved Guardians were both going to be okay, Helena made to stand up and re-join the others, so that the could continue to congratulate the newly engaged couple.

But when she was about to move away from the wall and into the party, Aphrodite's hand on her arm stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going, baby girl? It seems that I am not the only one with a story to tell, right?"

The conniving bastard had said that at just the right volume so that everybody in the room had been able to hear the question.

Shooting him a glare that would have melted iron, Helena managed to drown her drink in one go, before she was literally swamped by all her beloved idiots who were falling over their feet in their hast to reach her and ask her the questions they had all been dying to get answers to.

Sighing in exasperation, Helena readied herself for a very long night.


	50. Un nuovo viaggio

"You could have treated her a little bit better, you know?"

An annoyed grunt was her only answer, and Helena knew better than to push the other man's buttons too much; it was a miracle in itself that he hadn't tried to send her to the Yomotsu Hirasaka _yet_, and she'd rather keep things that way. While a stroll in the Mouth of Hell would not damage her at all, the view of thousands of souls moving towards a big black hole always gave her the creeps.

"She has asked you a question, crab! Be a gentleman long enough to grant her an answer, would you?"

Her other companion, of course, didn't have the slightest idea when to keep his mouth shut. Helena loved Milo to death, but sometimes his overabundant sense of chivalry was exactly what put people in danger.

"Milo, please… don't antagonize Manigoldo! He has every right not to answer me, and it doesn't really matter how much you want to force him to. After all it is his life, and if he doesn't want to acknowledge the bond he shares with Sara, there isn't much either you or I can do or say about it…"

The dissatisfied expression that Milo was wearing clearly stated that the Scorpio Saint didn't agree with her statement, but since he had chosen not to pursue that conversation, Helena decided to count her blessings and go back preparing dinner.

Helena, Manigoldo and Milo had been on the road for three days, headed towards a city in the centre of Europe from where had come concerning rumours about a madman with a penchant for collecting people.

The news had reached them while Helena was in the middle of her story about what had happened in the three months she had spent in Hell. She would have finished a lot sooner than she actually did, if it hadn't taken her the better part of half an hour to convince Milo, Aioria and surprisingly Kanon, that yes, time flowed differently in some parts of Hell. Of course that explanation had come right after another very long half hour in which the young healer had had to put every ounce of conversation skill she had, into convincing her overprotective brothers that she was completely healthy, that her bond with Minos had nullified the ill-effects of the curse, without creating new ones and, more importantly, that she wasn't going to go anywhere, anytime soon.

Given that her strong desire to stay on earth alongside the other Gold Saints to protect Athena, had been the foundation of the yelling match she had had with Minos exactly that morning, Helena knew she should have at least waited to discuss things with her own husband before making any promise; but the raven-haired girl had still been pissed beyond belief and not even slightly inclined towards any kind of submission to her husband's requests. If he could keep his position as a Judge, she could still be the Healer! After all they had made it work perfectly the first time, so she really couldn't see why he had kicked such a fuss.

After the millionth reassurance that she wasn't going anywhere – and that this time she meant it! – the others had backed up a little and moved on to asking her downright embarrassing and childish questions: Death Mask had insisted that his question about a platoon of Spectres had been a perfectly legitimate one – and if she still didn't command one, they should give one to her immediately – and since Dohko of all people had expressed his interest in her answer, Helena hadn't even been able to wipe the smug smirk off Death Mask's face.

She had been trying to avoid answering Kanon – who had salaciously asked her how was Minos in bed so they could compare notes – when Sage had entered the room with an expression on his face so black that Helena had feared that their battle had, somehow, ended up hurting or killing one of the old Gold Saints.

Getting a little closer to the Pope, and in the meantime getting away from Saga who was still pathetically trying not to choke on his spit from Kanon's earlier question, the Ophiucus Saint had cautiously asked what was wrong.

She had almost killed him when he had put one hand in the long sleeve of his robe to retrieve something, but she managed to stay her instincts long enough to recognize that, whatever he had pulled from the robe wasn't a weapon.

Confused as to why Sage would hand her, and not Saga, what ended up being a piece of parchment, Helena had taken the letter and had opened it.

When her eyes landed on the text she finally understood why the old Cancer Saint had chosen to bypass the Pope and hand the document directly.

_"__Fuck…"_

_"__Helena, we should really talk about that bad habit of yours darling. I know that having Death Mask as a role model didn't help matters, but swearing like a sailor is not very proper for a gentle young lady like you…"_

_Ignoring the gentle, if a little out-dated, reprimand from the Sagittarius Saint, Helena wordlessly handed him the parchment._

_"__Sweetie, what am I looking at? I mean all I can see are squiggly lines connected to dots…is this some kind of secret code?"_

_Still ignoring Aioros and her own comrades, Helena turned around the room to locate her protégé. Once she spotted Sara loitering in the back, Helena called her to the front with an imperious head movement, and quickly snatched the paper from Ros' hands and gave it to the younger healer._

_"__I usually do not swear, but I have to wholeheartedly agree with Helena on this one…"_

_"__Helena, explain this NOW! What is the reason behind all these tricks? Why can you and Sara read this and I couldn't? Is this some sort of Ophiucus thing? I thought that we already established that we have accepted the Snake Master into our fold, so why the secrecy?"_

_Aioros was usually a very calm and collected man, but the gloomy mood coming from Pope Sage, coupled with Helena's own black aura and her seemingly reluctance to answer his questions, had the Golden Archer on edge._

_"__Warui na…Sorry Aioros, I wasn't trying to make fun of you. I was simply trying to prove a theory of mine…"_

_"__What theory?!"_

_The barely repressed growl in Aioria's words told Helena to get a move on her explanation before the easily angered Lion decided to fry them all on the spot._

_"__None of you can read this parchment, with the exceptions of Sara and I; what Aioros had defined as squiggly lines connected to dots, is the secret language of the Ophiucus Saints. Any bearer of the Cloth knows how to read this on an instinctual level. We don't learn it; we simply awaken as Ophiucus with the language already in our brains. This was the language in which the Snake Master wrote his healing treatises, his academic research if you will, on the usage of Cosmo for healing all kind of wounds. You are aware that I cannot heal wounds not caused by Cosmo, right? Nor I can cure ailments like colds and coughs. This was the limit, imposed by Aesculapius himself, so that the Healer of Sanctuary didn't become a God. But the Snake Master had started researching a way around the ban and he had developed a secret language to keep his results protected from prying eyes. None of this is of the slightest interest for what we have here, except for the fact that, whoever wrote that message, had to have an Ophiucus with him since there's nobody else on the planet who can write or read that language…"_

_Helena could see in the other Gold Saints' eyes that they still didn't understand the weight of what she had just told them, and she found that she really couldn't blame them: after all Helena knew that if they hadn't realized that the mysterious third Ophiucus could very well be a murderous bitch, it was only because they believed in the fact that she was good so much that they had forgotten that almost all her predecessors were out for Athena's blood._

_"__Leaving that aside for the moment, our problem is the letter itself: I will spare you the details, but the gist is that whoever the writer is, he or she represents a group of people who would like nothing more than to graphically kill our Goddess…I think now you understand my less than proper vocabulary before."_

_The silence that had descended onto all the Gold Saints – both the one of that era and Helena's own companions – was similarly thick but where the 18__th__ century Gold Saints had taken a defensive step back, as if the threat to their Lady was imminent and in the room, Saga and the others had taken a similar step, but forward with their arms raised and their cocky smirks firm in place, as if to tell the world to try and defeat them._

_The funniest thing was that, Saori herself had taken up the same position, well intent on fighting alongside her Saints._

_"__Where does this letter come from, Helena?"_

_Always straight to the point, Saga had asked the most important question of all._

_"__It doesn't really say but…let me try something and maybe I can tell you. Just…don't freak out, please?"_

_Before anybody had had the change to ask why they shouldn't freak out, Helena emitted a low sibilant sound from the back of her throat._

_For ten agonizingly long seconds nothing happened, but when Sage himself was about to ask what exactly they were waiting for, a similar sound answered Helena's first call, and soon enough a grey medium snake came out of the shadows of the room and quickly made its way towards Helena._

_Kardia's shout of warning got strangled in his own throat when Helena, who hadn't seemed particularly surprised at the snake's apparition, crouched down enough to extend her right arm, that the snake readily climbed._

_Acting like an oversized bracelet, the snake used its perch to study – and Kardia was damned if that snake didn't turn out to be an intelligent, sentient being – the parchment still in Helena's hands. Faster than lighting its tongue struck out from behind the teeth, licked the parchment and went back in. What followed was a series of hisses coming from both the snake and Helena herself, that sounded more like a fight than anything and, with a gesture that was typically human, the snake tossed its head to the side and with a last hiss that sounded more like a sigh, clambered down Helena's arm and vanished into the shadows._

_"__What was _that_?!"_

_Ok, maybe there had been no need to put so much emphasis and shouting the question, but Kardia had always kind of hated snakes and the display that they had just been witnessed to, had freaked him out more than a little._

_The elbow in his ribs, courtesy to an enchanted Degel, was probably deserved since Helena had actually told them not to freak out, but the Scorpio Saint wanted answer too much to really care._

_"__Well…you didn't think that the title of Snake Master was just for show, right?"_

_It was Sara's own shocked face that stood out the most for Helena._

_"__Sara…what's the problem?"_

_"__I-I-I…"_

_"__You…what?"_

_Stuttering was never a good sign and warning bells started to go off in Helena's head._

_"__Idon'treallylikesnakes…"_

_The young girl had pronounced the sentence in such a low tone and at such speed that it took Helena a moment to parse through it._

_"__Oh…I can see how that might be a problem…"_

_Head down to cover up for her embarrassment and fear Sara looked like she wanted to be swallowed by the floor._

_"__I thought that the only snakes were the ones you created with your Cosmo and I thought I could deal with them…but live snakes are my worst nightmare…I cannot stand them!"_

_Helena supposed that there was some bad experience in Sara's past, which could justify this peculiar hatred; after all she was the first and only one of the chosen hosts of the Master who hadn't been enamoured with reptiles._

_"__Well…try not to worry about that now, ok? You won't have to use them since I already called mine…maybe later we can try and fix whatever happened to you, right? If you are really bothered by snakes, you might want to leave the room 'cause I can guarantee you are not going to like what is about to happen…"_

_Helena had almost expected Sara to take her up on her offer and leave the room, but she was pleasantly surprised when the younger girl shook her head and with a murmured 'I can deal with this', moved a little closer to Deuteros but otherwise didn't leave the room._

_"__What's about to happen now, baby girl?"_

_At least Saga and the others hadn't been bothered by her earlier show; with the exception of Death Mask and Aphrodite, the others had never suspected she could talk to real snakes, not just the ones made of Cosmo. Apparently they had never realized that Helena had always used live snakes protected by her luminous Cosmo during her attacks._

_"__Give me a minute and I'll answer your question. For your safety, stand a little bit more to the sides of the room and don't make sudden movements, ok?"_

_A bright light was the only forewarning they had before the same hissing sound from before sounded again in the room._

_This time the grey snake was accompanied by two others, one of them distinctively a rattlesnake._

_Once again, back and forth bantering ensued between Helena and the three snakes, before the two new ones left the room, and the first one – they would later learn that it was a she, her name was Cleo and she was an asps – climbed Helena's leg, up her torso and came to rest on her forearm, like a fashionable bracelet._

_Trying hard not to laugh at everybody's bewildered faces when they had realized that Helena's wide range of snake bracelets was nothing more than different live snakes who were playing dead on the healer's arm, Helena answered Saga's question._

_"__I think that you have understood that those are my snakes; the history lesson will come later, but for now the short version is that they serve as my scouts and messengers. I usually send them out to check things for me when I cannot move. I had Cleo try to figure out where the letter had come from, based on the distinctive flavour of the paper. It should have taken more time, but apparently Cy-Cy, the rattlesnake, had tasted the same flavour off a man who had come to Sanctuary seeking aid and so…well voilà!"_

_So far nobody had tried to burn her to the stake, so Helena could count it as a victory._

_"__A beseecher? From where, what did he want?"_

_"__According to Cleo, this man came all the way from a prosperous city in the central European region to seek Athena's help: apparently his town was taken over by a greedy man with the penchant for collecting human beings. People are disappearing all over the place and nobody can do anything to stop him. The man had heard about Athena and her just Saints and he has come here to beg for her help. I fear there is something much more sinister than a greedy lord at play in that city. Especially if the letter comes from there. I think we ought to investigate…"_

Apparently that friendly suggestion about sending someone there to see what the fuss was about, had been interpreted both by Sage and Saga alike as a request for herself to be sent in.

Not that she had been complaining when Saga had officially tasked her with the mission.

The problems had come later and could all the traced back to the same culprit: Cancer no Manigoldo.

To both of their horror, Sage had tasked none other than his student to be Helena's partner for the mission; at Aphrodite's outraged shriek, Sage had simply pointed out that it was only fair that a Gold Saint of the period would be sent in as well and that Manigoldo was the perfect candidate both because he was the Cancer Saint – a constellation that Helena was very familiar with – and because he was the only one in that lot who could hope to blend in any environment.

When Death Mask had, rather politely from his point of view, tried to explain the fact that he wasn't about to let Helena go anywhere without proper protection, Sage had flippantly answered him that if he wanted he was free to join the party.

At that, and before Death Mask had any chance at a rebuttal, Helena had decided to step in.

_"__You've got guts, Pope Sage if you think you can command an Ophiucus Saint or her Guardians. Shall I remind you that, in any case, we do not obey you? And even if we did, have you forgotten the Healer's standing in Sanctuary's hierarchy? Too many years without opposition have made you arrogant, Sage…I will go to that damn city, but not on your orders! Manigoldo can do whatever the fuck he wants; if he can keep up with me it's fine, if he cannot than it's not my problem, are we clear?"_

_The arrogant smirk on the old man's face had only grown more pronounced with every word she had told him, and Helena knew that, as every Cancer Saint before him, Sage was a good and noble man underneath, but he needed to be taken down a peg or twenty every once in a while._

_His next words only served to prove the point._

_"__You keep saying that you wield an enormous power, but I have seen nothing of it! Are you sure you can keep up with me, young one? After all 'the Pope's job is to be always two steps in front of the Gods'; what makes you think you'd have the upper hand?"_

_Oh yes…he absolutely needed to be taken down a couple notches._

_Helena was still trying to figure out a way to do that delicately – he might have been the Pope but he was still and old man and Helena didn't really want to do anything that would put him in danger – when she had felt the rise of Sage's Cosmo._

_Suddenly knowing what to do, Helena smirked to herself – noting, pleased, that Kardia seemed to have picked upon her mad plan and was looking at her with a hint of…worry in his eyes – closed her eyes and suddenly released some of her Cosmo in one gigantic burst._

_Saori, who had been prepared for the blast, had managed to keep her outside barrier still standing and had erected a new barrier to protect her own Saints._

_Sasha's lot was totally unprepared for what happened: all the Gold Saints, including Rasgado, were hurled back with such a force that those who had been close to a wall left an imprint on it. Those who had managed to erect any kind of barrier, not only were flung back as much as the others, but they also suffered the whiplash of their barrier exploding._

_Sage had been right in telling her that he was a powerful force and he was not to be taken lightly: his own Cosmo had been enough to shield him from the worst of the blast, which would have melted his skin off his bones, but even he couldn't help but being hurled directly on the throne._

_"__Ups…"_

_The sound of laughter coming from her brothers repaid her of Sage's earlier insult; he had wanted to see her power, she hoped he was satisfied._

_The sound of moving rubble told Helena that someone was trying to stand up, but before Manigoldo's stream of curses could become something Helena would have had to take offence to – or rather before Manigoldo decided to do something stupid like attack her – Sage's amused chuckle stopped his pupil in his tracks._

_"__Point very much taken, dear Ophiucus! I was getting too cocky for my own age, right? I'm really hoping that Hakurei hears nothing of this, or I will never see the end of his smug face when he tells me that he had foreseen that one day my own arrogance would be my downfall. I really appreciated the fact that you restrained yourself: at my age, flexibility is a bygone dream I'm afraid…"_

_"__This was her _restraining_ herself?! What happens when she _doesn't_?!"_

_Pointedly ignoring Regulus' rather childish shout, Sage looked Helena in the eyes and inclined his head just enough for the gesture to be seen as apologetic._

_"__You were right: too many years without opposition make a man incredibly arrogant. Plus I never had the privilege of serving Athena alongside the Ophiucus Saint, so I really don't know anything about your social standing…"_

_Chuckling slightly Helena decided to humour him; after all, if Sara was to live in Sanctuary, then Sage and the others needed to be aware of her role._

_"__The Healer's standing is equal to the Pope, meaning that the only one who can order Ophiucus is Athena herself. The Pope can impose his own will only in case there is Sanctuary's safety at play. Any other time he can only make friendly suggestions and fervently pray that the Ophiucus Saint is in the mood to hear them…as for the Guardians, they answer directly to the Healer and not even the Pope can order them when it comes to their protégé's safety. Sending an Ophiucus on a mission without the Guardians' open approval is tantamount to a capital offence, that's why Aphrodite and Death Mask were beyond pissed."_

_"__I see…than I apologize to them as well…I really didn't mean to disrespect you. At this point I can only hope that you will accept my friendly suggestion to go and investigate and to take with you Manigoldo… As for your Guardians I leave to them the decision about your safety!"_

And that was how Helena had ended up on the road to an unknown city with Manigoldo as a companion. As for Milo, at least he had been a conscious and calculated choice on her part.

_"__Which one of the Guardians are you taking with you? I know that it would be better for them both to be there, but I think this mission requires a small number of people…"_

_Unlike Sage, Saga had had plenty of time to learn how to phrase his orders like friendly suggestions, and when to push some of those suggestions enough that she'd be forced to consider them. In that case, he was trying to convey the fact that he wasn't very happy about sending her without both the Guardians, but at the same time he was telling her that they needed the information and asking her to consider a compromise._

_Helena also knew that, whatever she decided in the end, Saga wasn't going to force the issue either way, and for that she was more than glad._

_For a moment she briefly contemplated not taking anybody with her; it wouldn't be the first time she had gone on a mission alone and sometimes she rather enjoyed the peace and quiet that solitude brought her. This time, though, a solo mission wasn't in her plans; for starters, she had just promised Death Mask that she wasn't going to do anything reckless, and going alone in an unknown city without solid, reliable backup was breaking that promise. Moreover, she really didn't enjoy going alone and she knew that a partner would help speed things up. Plus she wasn't overly fond of the idea of being alone with Manigoldo for any length of time: she personally had nothing against the man, but she could feel his distaste a mile away and a buffer between them would only make things easier._

_As for the person she was going to take with her, Helena knew it couldn't be one of her Guardians: bringing Death Mask was simply useless in terms of powers, since Manigoldo was already coming, and Aphrodite was still not in peak conditions and she was loathe to put him on the road for any length of time._

_"__Helena?"_

_"__Scorpio…"_

_"__Scor…what?!"_

_Helena could tell she had thrown Saga for a loop, as well as the other Gold Saints with the exceptions of her Guardians and, apparently, a smirking Saori in the background._

_"__You'll have to be more specific, dear…what do you need Milo for? Wait, you meant Milo, right?"_

_Always the level-headed one, Aioros had taken over from his still shocked boyfriend and asked the questions everybody probably wanted answers to._

_"__Yeah, I meant Milo…and what do I need to be more specific about? Saga asked me who I was going to take with me, and I answered him: Scorpio…"_

_She could see the gears turning pointlessly in their heads and she desperately tried not to burst out laughing, but Saori's barely controlled laughter and her own Guardians' widening smirks were making her job far more complicated._

_"__But…but Milo is not one of your Guardians, right?"_

_She really ought to have taken offence to that – after all being a Guardian was one of the highest, even if ungrateful, honours in Sanctuary – but Camus' worried tone melted away the possible insult._

_"__Relax, Cam! Milo isn't my Guardian, but I want him as my partner in this mission. I cannot take Death Mask since he and Manigoldo share the same power and I suspect that the mission ahead is as far as Aphrodite's cup of tea as surfing under the sun is for you!"_

_If they were going to be blending in with the lowest levels of society in the city, Aphrodite's overly fancy looks would made him stick out like a sore thumb; that, and Helena didn't even want to imagine the tantrums he would throw at being forced to dirty himself beyond recognition._

_Still, Camus looked far from convinced._

_"__Why Milo, though?"_

_"__Because I am the only one with enough experience in covert ops, right Helena? You do realize, though, that I am a bit rusty? It's been years since my last mission…"_

_Covert ops was a polite way to say that Milo was, barring herself, the best assassin that Arles had at his disposal. Back in the day, he had been lethal, quick, and clean, but, more than everything, he had the innate ability to blend in with his surroundings. _

_"__It's no problem, Milo! After all it's not like I have had any chance at practising those skills more than you did…once we will find our footing again, I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake!"_

_The exchange seemed to have triggered some sort of understanding in Saga, because he nodded once in her direction and quelled any anxious protests on Camus' part with an imperious nod of his head._

_"__Then Scorpio it is, then! It's a simple recon mission, so please do not blow up anything and, for the love of everything, try not to get into trouble!"_

_The slightly mocking chuckle coming from Death Mask, shattered the formal atmosphere created by Saga's orders and from that, things progressed quickly, until the three of them were outside the First House, ready to depart, heavy under their companions' last minute suggestions._

_With a smile, Helena realized that Milo had spent all the time from when they had been assigned the mission till that moment, anxiously looking between Death Mask and Aphrodite, almost if he was waiting for one of them to tell him that he was unsuited for the role of protector of the Healer of Sanctuary._

_While absolutely hilarious, Helena realized that, if not properly addressed, this concern could end up killing Milo; with a sharp hand gesture she caught Mask's attention and redirected it towards the twitchy Scorpio Saint._

_Before the two of them could do or say anything, Sage was giving them the order to mount their horses._

_Just before spurring them on, amidst the general chaos, Death Mask's voice rang loud, clear and definitely mocking._

_"__Ohi brat! Remember he is not us, so for the love of Athena, _do not get him killed!_"_

_Leave it do Death Mask to shout an encouragement to Milo that sounded like a scolding to her, but seeing the tension leaving Scorpio's shoulders was enough to pay her back for the humiliation._

_For all that Mask wasn't very adept at expressing himself properly, Milo seemed to have understood him perfectly fine: with one single sentence the Cancer Saint had told Helena to be careful, and Milo to stay calm because he wasn't responsible for Helena's safety like he was one of the Guardians._

_With much better omens than the first time Helena had left Sanctuary on a mission in this time, they started their long journey._


	51. Una promessa nel tempo

Their good omens had lasted for about half a day before Manigoldo's crankiness and Milo's childishness got to blows.

Even without knowing the current Cancer Saint that well, Helena could fortunately read him enough to prevent bloodshed so soon into their journey, but unless the two of them found a common ground, the road would be far from comfortable.

Helena supposed she only had herself to blame for her discomfort: Manigoldo had been a fixed point in the arrangement, but she could have chosen anybody else to come with them. Even excluding Aphrodite, who would have been the best match by far, she could have asked Shura, Camus, Mu or even Aldebaran – she would have loved to pick the latter, but his size alone made it very difficult for him _not_ to be noticed – as all of them did have enough skills to finish the mission and they were less likely to irritate the Cancer Saint.

Helena, though, hadn't chosen Milo based only on his previous experience on similar jobs, and not only based on their chemistry on said jobs; there was another, more personal reason Helena had chosen Milo.

Of all her brothers, with the obvious exception of her Guardians, Milo had been the one more deeply cut by her sudden disappearance at the end of the story of Ophiucus. The two of them had a very rocky start, as she had explained to Kardia, but when they had finally managed to clear everything between them, they had become inseparable.

Aside from the Guardians, who were in a completely different category, Milo had quickly become her favourite Saint of them all; sure, she loved each and every one of the Gold Saints like they had been born from the same mother, but Milo held a special place in her heart. Being the youngest of the Gold Saints, had meant that she had found him more approachable than the others. Of course, his sunny personality and smiley disposition had made the rest.

Her childhood world had revolved around a power hungry madman who had forced her to become an assassin at the tender age of seven. Her Guardians had been in hiding, fearing punishment and retribution on all of them if the depth of their caring was discovered and so, while they privately showered her in affection, publicly they were colder and harsher than a night in Siberia.

The others hadn't been better: half of them had been solitary and aloof, not at all inclined to treat her like the child she was and not the warrior she was supposed to become. And for those who weren't, it was Helena herself who kept them at a distance, afraid they would discover the truth.

Milo had been different: nothing she had ever done had discouraged him in the slightest. She had tried everything to keep him at arm's length, but he never stayed there for a long time.

Aioria, in all his teenage arrogance – which Helena had come to realize, years later, was no different than his normal arrogance – had deemed her an inferior being – she was still trying to figure out if he had meant that because she wasn't a Gold Saint, or because she was a girl – and either ignored her or forced her to become his personal slave for an afternoon.

Milo, though, was different. He seemed to genuinely care for her company, not only that, he seemed to crave it.

He was the one who had started seeking her out to show her something, ranging from his latest discovery of a sunny patch to sleep undisturbed, to Camus' testy reaction to the umpteenth prank.

At first she hadn't wanted to have anything to do with him; she had been rude, she had been deliberately cruel. But Milo had kept coming back.

And so, slowly, Helena had started to approach him, shyly at first and then a little bit boldly. She was always careful never to favour him too much, when she knew that Arles was watching, afraid of what the mad Pope would do to the young Scorpio.

Milo had solved that problem himself when he had wholeheartedly embraced Arles' mad scheme. When that happened, Helena had cried herself to sleep for an entire week, knowing full well that she couldn't make Milo change his mind without risking her cover and Athena's safety.

Helena had almost told him the truth after Arles' death, about who she was and what she had tried to do, all her childhood, but in the end she had lacked the courage, not wanting to see the disappointment in those blue eyes.

Forcing herself to tell Milo that she wasn't going to see them, him, anymore when she had married Minos had been one of the most difficult things Helena had had to do in all her life.

She had wanted nothing more than to deny everything she had said, the moment it had escaped her lips; she had wanted to be the one to console Milo, but she had known that, in the long run, her permanent disappearance would only help the Scorpio Saint.

When she had forced her hand with Minos, on the day in which Eris had suddenly reappeared, the cheerful Scorpio had been on the forefront of her mind.

It wasn't the same love she held for her Guardians – the three of them had developed a bond that simply transcended all the others – but Helena loved Milo fiercely.

And that was the reason, among others, why she had chosen him to accompany her in the journey: a man of few words, the Scorpio Saint relied on actions to convey his sentiments, and so Helena wanted to do the same. By taking him with her she hoped that, by the end of the mission, he would have seen enough to dispel any remaining terror of her going away from them for good.

Helena would, of course, still be the wife of one of the Three Judges, but she was confident that she and Minos could make things work. They had too, because in the months spent in Hell, the young healer had realized one thing: she didn't want to live without her brothers. She could if she needed it, of course, but it wasn't a question of necessity but one of will.

She wouldn't live without them, and that was final.

Helena could only hope that Minos could see her point and accept a compromise, because she really didn't want to live without him either.

But, as her Cloth was fond of saying, she needed to fix one thing at a time, and right now the only thing needing fixing, was Milo's faith in her and their relationship.

She could work on that providing, of course, that the Scorpio Saint himself didn't get them both killed by the highly irritable Cancer Saint.

Considering that the two of them had almost come to blows more than fifty times in three days, Helena wasn't counting much on their prolonged existence.

_"__Are you really sure you're going to be fine, Helena?"_

_"__Saori, for the love of everything, it's the millionth time you've asked me that! I will be fine! Why are you suddenly this twitchy about letting me go? I am taking backup with me this time, and I am pretty sure that Manigoldo will not let anything happen to me, if only to spare himself the lecture…"_

_The silence that followed her question, had the young healer look up from the back she was packing, trying to figure out why her best friend had suddenly decided to crank-up the levels of her mother-henning._

_"__I do trust you, Helena, you know that! And, of course, I also trust Milo, but…well…"_

_"__I have already disappeared twice in the last year – with last time being an almost permanent arrangement – and you fear that I may decide not to come back, right?"_

_Sighing, Helena interrupted her packing – not that she was going to get anything done until she had finished her conversation with Saori – to give her best friend her full attention._

_Saori's fidgeting and downcast eyes would have been terribly funny in any other setting, but in that moment they only highlighted a much deeper problem than what the Healer had thought._

_"__It's not that I think that you will decide not to come back…it's…well…to be honest I am still trying to figure out what makes you come back! You've hade one of the most horrible childhoods ever; your family died not once, but twice and more; you almost died more times than I can count; in the last ten months you've been kidnapped, your soul was split, you almost died because of the Gold Saints' idiocy, then an ancient curse almost killed you, then you purposefully put yourself in the path of a power hungry megalomaniac that almost skewered you, and your Cloth almost killed you again! You had your chance at a normal life – granted, marrying a Spectre might not be anybody's definition of normal – and you threw it away to come and save me, and now you still want to be the Ophiucus Saint and go on a mission with one of the crankiest jerks I have ever seen…why?"_

_The bubbling laugh that had threatened to come out of her throat for the entirety of Saori's rather breathless spiel, could not be contained longer, and it spilled from Helena's lips like water from a newly broken dam._

_"__Why do you always laugh when I try to be serious? For heaven's sake, Helena! That was a legitimate concern! I don't know why I keep bothering with you, when it is obvious that you don't consider this half as seriously as I do…if that's the case, then I will bid you goodbye!"_

_Before her beloved Goddess and frustrated best friend could make her grand exit from the room, Helena quickly extended one hand to grab Saori's arm and stop her from leaving._

_"__Wha…HELENA! Release me, now! I command you!"_

_"__Stop yelling, Saori! Unless you want the others to come in and then _you_ will get the pleasure to explain to them why you were yelling like you were being attacked when there is only me in the room with you!"  
As if she had noticed the problem only in that very moment, Saori stilled in Helena's grasp._

_"__Now then…I think you ought to stop with the self-recrimination, my friend! It won't do you any good, especially when you are way off mark like in this case! I already told you before, and I will tell you again, Saori: every choice I have made in my life has been my own! So, if I have decided to come back and stay by your side, you can be sure that I really meant it, and I will not be swayed! You were right: I could have stayed away. I was already out when you granted me freedom to marry Minos and save my life. There was no reason for me to return to you, and to be honest I almost didn't. I stayed three months in Hell and I was happy. But then, I started to realize that something was niggling at the back of my mind: it felt like I had forgotten something and it was such an itching feeling that I couldn't sleep at night. At first I thought I simply missed them: after all I had spent most of my life in their company, so it seemed pretty obvious that I would feel somehow disoriented when I finally got some 'alone time'. But the more I thought about it, and the more I realized that missing them was only part of the problem. I had been a Saint of Athena all my life, even if in disguise for a good part of it. To be fair, I had been one of your Saints for basically two of my lifetimes, since that's exactly what Elpida was."_

_Truth to be told, as Elpida she hadn't wanted anything to do with Athena and Sanctuary. They had allowed her village to burn and they had driven her beloved Master to despair and treason. But when the original Saints had chosen to sacrifice themselves in order to grant the Ophiucus a chance at redemption, Elpida had started to see them in a different light. The fact that their souls had attached themselves to her during her travels had helped a lot in improving her opinions of them._

_Athena had been an even more difficult challenge, since the young healer had thought the Goddess a spoiled, bumbling fool who couldn't do anything by herself and needed to be served hand and foot. But, Athena's chronic incompetence had had an almost endearing quality and soon enough Elpida had found herself caving despite her better judgement, and had started to like the self-proclaimed protector of all humanity. By the end of her life, the young healer had developed enough of a soft spot for the Goddess of Justice and her Saints that, when her soul had reincarnated, alongside all of her memories, she had started to discreetly protect Athena even without being one of her Saints. _

_And so, every time she had reincarnated – with the memories of all her lives intact, even if faded into the background – Elpida had protected Athena and, in time, she had come to think of the ditzy Goddess as the best friend she never had. _

_Under various identities, the young healer had battled Eris in the name of Athena, and life after life, she had discovered one thing: Athena had no idea who she really was, even if she had befriended her every single time even if she hadn't been a Saint. On the contrary, Eris seemed to be pointedly aware of her identity, regardless of the disguise she was wearing, which was downright creepy and very much worrying._

_Not that Helena had any intention of telling Athena and the other Saints that particular piece of information. If Saori hadn't figured out who she really was, and the many roles she had played in her different lives, Helena was not going to tell her. As for the other Gold Saints, their ignorance on the matter would only spare her the inevitable headache if they ever found out. Of course, her Goddess decided to throw a wrench in her carefully laid out plan._

_"__Would you mind telling me why Eris mentioned that you had disrupted her plans various times over the centuries? And why wasn't I aware of this?"_

_And there went Helena's plan of not telling her Goddess exactly who she had been._

_"__If I tell you that you don't need to worry about it, you'll never believe me, right?"_

_Saori's best impression of a Greek urn, completed with a scowl that would have made Saga very, very proud, told Helena that she wasn't going to get out of that explanation any time soon._

_"__Fine! I suppose that I have no other choice now than telling you: would you believe me if I told you that this is not the first time I have reincarnated?"_

_By the end of Helena's long explanation – which had uncovered the fact that the young healer had reincarnated _a lot of _times in the past, and in every single life she had somehow ended up saving Athena one way or another – Saori was ready to cry, and even her divine half – usually more stoic and less prone to sudden emotional outbursts – looked almost unsettlingly humbled._

_"__Why did you never tell me? If not for Eris' careless remark I would have spent eons without properly thank you for what you've done for me, for us…"_

_"__That's exactly why I didn't tell you, Athena. I didn't do it for your gratitude, and frankly I don't want it! I would have rather preferred you had remained ignorant of who I was, and what part I played in the many adventures we shared together; I was content in the simple knowledge that, even though you didn't remember me, we always ended up being friends. I do not regret telling you now, but it wouldn't really have made a difference in how I had behaved in the past or I will behave in the future."_

_Helena had barely finished speaking when she found herself with an armful of sobbing Goddess who had hit her like a freight train and had toppled them over._

_While patting her best friend's head, the young healer realized that, unless she was to take drastic measures, Athena would never stop worrying about her decision to stay, and worse the Goddess would start trying to find her in every life, never sure if Helena's newest incarnation would be a friend or a foe._

_But what drastic measures could she take? What would be enough to convince even the rarely swayed heart of a deity? The answer hit her like a ton of bricks. It was brilliant in its simplicity, and Helena wondered why she had never chosen to do it, until that moment. She vaguely wondered what would Minos say, but she quickly dismissed it: her husband had done the very same thing she was about to do eons ago – without consulting her first to be honest, and Helena inwardly cheered at the prospect of exacting her revenge in the same manner – and, in the end, they had made their relationship work around it._

_Lifting Saori and herself up from the floor, Helena started for the door, a puzzled best friend still securely in her arms._

_"__Where are we going, Helena?"_

_Feeling emboldened by her decision, the healer did not answer her Goddess directly, but instead called for the other Gold Saints to meet them in the Throne Room._

_Putting Saori down in order to push the majestic door open, Helena was relieved to find that on the other side of said door, only her own companions were waiting for them. Having also the other Gold Saints as audience wouldn't have made much difference in the end, but Helena had wanted this thing to be as much private as she could manage._

_"__Helena! What happened? Why have you sent for all of us?"_

_In her haste to gather them all in one place, the young girl had forgotten the fact that her brothers would have panicked about the urgency of the meeting and her lack of introductory explanations._

_"__Sorry Saga! Nothing's happened yet, and what's going to happen isn't a bad thing, I swear! I just wanted you all here, but I hadn't stopped to consider how you would have taken my sudden summoning…Gomen…"_

_Inclining slightly his head to show her that he wasn't angry neither at her nor at the situation, Saga took a second to properly look at the young healer and the Goddess. Athena looked like she had been crying – which Saga was grateful that had happened under Helena's watch because he still panicked when confronted with a crying girl, especially if she was also his Goddess – but Helena, on the other hand, was giddily bouncing on the spot. Not a bad omen, but puzzling in itself._

_"__So why are we here, brat? You were about to meet us all for dinner, so what's the rush?"_

_Favouring Death Mask with a luminous smile, Helena opened her arms as if to include everyone in the room, and started on the strangest speech the Gold Saints had ever heard._

_"__It has occurred to me that I might not have been as convincing as I had hoped in reassuring all of you that I was not going anywhere, anytime soon. Since I know that words will likely hold no reassurance for you, I thought that, maybe, actions will. So this is not our Throne Room, but I think we can borrow it for a short while. My Lady Athena, if you would please take your place on the throne, and everyone else take your positions for a full formal gathering. It would have been so much better with all the Cloths, but since I think they are still in pieces, we will have to forgo them for now."_

_Helena could very well see that her weird requests had more or less shocked all the others, but to their credit, everyone positioned themselves in the proper spot. Their readiness and willingness to follow her commands with just a few curios glances but no actual questions, almost brought Helena to tears. It was moments like this that made every hardship she had undertaken suddenly more bearable._

_When, finally, Athena sat on the throne with Saga at her immediate right, Helena moved herself right at the end of the room, before taking a fortifying breath._

_\- Are you sure that this is what you really want, girl? You have always been adamantly against this until now…-_

\- _I am, Master! I know that I have been against it, but now I finally feel like it's the right time to do it! -_

_\- Eons ago I swore never to let you do this, but now…well now I cannot do anything but agree with you! It is the right time, not only for them, but for me as well! It is time to clear up the confusion in all our hearts. My only wish is that I could have been stronger and done it myself, sparing you…-_

_\- There is nothing you should be sparing me, dear Master! Truth to be told, and I never thought I would end up saying this, it is no hardship at all! –_

_Feeling the genuine smile of her Cloth, Helena turned to face the throne, gave a quick glance over to her brothers – who looked pretty impressive even without their Cloths – took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and started walking forward towards the Goddess._

_Once she reached the end of the two lines of Gold Saints, just right under the throne, Helena stopped, her determined eyes fixed in Athena's confused ones._

_Then Helena did something she had never done in all her lifetimes: she kneeled in front of Athena._

Helena smirked at the memory while she kept stirring the soup she was making for dinner that night; the reactions her actions had garnered had been hilarious as well as expected. All the Gold Saints had learned very quickly that there was one unavoidable quirk in Helena's demeanour when dealing with their Goddess: the young healer never, ever, kneeled in front of her. Not when she was receiving a mission, nor when she was giving the final report. At first they had all been puzzled, but soon they had chalked it up as a peculiar behaviour Helena had picked up when she had been the Pope of a dilapidated Sanctuary, and the need for proper formalities had been the last of the priorities for everybody.

Plus Athena hadn't seemed to mind, so in the end even Saga had decided to let that go.

When they had finally seen her bowing her head in front of Athena, they had all quickly deduced they were witnessing a monumental exchange.

"What are you smirking at, pretty girl? Should I be worried?"

Ignoring the muttered 'you should always be worried' coming from Manigoldo, seated at the far edge of their small encampment, Helena answered Milo's question.

"I was thinking about the Throne room…"

At that remark, Milo himself could not stop his own lips from stretching.

When he had seen Helena going down on both her knees, with her head bowed low enough to expose her neck, he had almost died from shock.

Nobody really knew why Helena had been adamant through the years about never wanting to kneel in front of the Goddess, but the Scorpio Saint remembered all to well the spectacular tantrums Helena as a child had thrown, whenever they had tried to instil into her the proper protocol for a Saint.

_"__My Lady Athena, my Lord Pope, my fellow Saints, I am here today kneeling in front of you. I know that you are all trying to figure out why I am doing this now, when I had made more than clear during the years, that I would not lower my head in front of anybody, be it mortal or deity. I started the first of my lives as a healer, turned Saint out of despair and necessity. On the day the Cloths were transformed, Elpida had asked Athena to make her the first Ophiucus Saint. Never once the young healer had offered any fealty to the Goddess of Justice. Elpida had worked her own agenda for most of her life: she didn't scour the world to get new Saints for Athena, but she did it to take a step closer to fulfil the prophecy on the Master's return. The fact that those new Saints were tasked with the protection of the Goddess had been a side effect, nothing more. Elpida had not wanted to be bound to the Goddess who had destroyed her life, and so her soul remained unshackled. By the time Elpida had felt comfortable enough to think about binding herself permanently to Athena, she was already at death door, far too late to do anything about it. My soul then wandered the ages, changing master every time, but always, always, looking out for Athena and her Saints in the end. Even if my soul had wished to be bound to the Goddess of Justice, it couldn't have done so, not until now. What I am offering to you, I am not offering it lightly: this is not a flamboyant gesture to make you all see that I am not going anywhere again. This is the result of a decision that has been in the making for thousands of years. Athena, I spent years trying and failing to hate you, or even ignore you. I found out that I cannot hate you, nor I have a desire to ignore you any longer. I know I have no right to ask you this, nor I can offer you anything more than the battered young soul of a very old being, but I am doing this anyway. Athena, would you accept my soul and bind it eternally to yourself?"_

By the end of Helena's speech, they had realized that they were crying, Athena more than anybody else.

Of course, the Goddess had not waited more than a second to accept Helena's offer, boldly stating that it would be her honour to cherish such a beautiful soul. Milo hadn't been able to contain his mirth, when Athena had promptly forbidden Helena to kneel in front of her ever again, because 'it looks weird as heck if I have to look down on you, and I kind of liked the feeling of being equals'. That had earned her a raised eyebrow from Saga, and a pointed cough from Aioros, but Athena had summarily ignored them both.

After that, both Milo and Helena had had to go back to packing for their imminent departure for a journey that, so far, had lacked in entertainment value and in which the camaraderie left a lot to be desired – and it didn't matter what Helena thought, Milo was not going to like the Cancer Saint!

Sure, the Scorpio Saint still feared Helena's sudden disappearance, but he had understood her message when she had decided to take him on the mission. It would not be easy to let go of his fear, but he was confident that in time, and with Helena's steady presence in their ranks, Milo could be persuaded to believe it.

In the meantime, they had a psychopath to unmask, an evil Goddess to stop and, much more short term, a Cancer Saint to piss off.

While Helena finished stirring the soup she was making, Milo wondered if Manigoldo would have the same triggers as Death Mask. There was only one way to find out…

"SCORPIO, YOU BASTARD! COME DOWN HERE AND TAKE RETRIBUTION LIKE A MAN!" 


	52. Sono fratelli!

"Do you think she'll be alright?"

There was no need for Aphrodite to further specify whom he was referring to: there was always one single person on both their minds, especially if she wasn't within their sights. Death Mask supposed he should feel insulted – after all Manigoldo was his pre-incarnation, and he should have been perfectly suited to protect their charge – but the future Cancer Saint had not been blind to the scorn and hatred that the former street-child had bestowed on young Sara, and thus he had very little hope that Helena would be treated differently.

What nobody actually knew – and if Sara had her way, it would stay a secret for eternity, because she wasn't ready to face pity and judgement – was that Manigoldo held a personal grudge towards Sara, not the Ophiucus Saint in general. While not the most talkative of beings, if the older Ophiucus didn't provoke his ire, Sara was fairly sure he wouldn't do anything to her. Granted, maybe it wasn't the best plan of action, or the greatest reassurance, but Sara knew that Helena knew what was the problem between her and Manigoldo, and so the younger healer was confident that the raven-haired girl would come back in one piece.

"Ok, girl…spill!"

The terrified scream, only partially muffled by a calloused hand that had appeared over her mouth, had all the Gold Saints, of that era or otherwise, descend onto Sara and an amused Deuteros, who had the galls to chuckle in front of Sara's nastiest glare.

"Do you want me dead, Deuteros? Because if you do that's one of the quickest ways to do it! Death by heart failure!"

"Oh don't be melodramatic! At such a young age, I think we can rule out any type of heart failure any time soon! And you would have heard me approach you, if you had paid attention to your surroundings! If this is the result of your training, I think we better schedule more sessions, 'cause it looks like you haven't yet learned!"

Stifling a groan at the prospect of more training with her Guardians – Sara wanted to bury herself somewhere very far away from Sanctuary after having worked only with two Gold Saints, so she couldn't even begin to image what Helena's life had been, working with all of them – Sara tried again to level a glare at the mad Gemini Saint, only to be interrupted by the amused chuckles of none other than Death Mask.

"You've got potential in that glare girl, but you might want to give it a little more heat!"

Biting back the offended hiss that was threatening to come out – fully aware that if she did end up hissing at them, the modern Gold Saints would think her cute instead of threatening – Sara decided to ignore entirely Death Mask and his entourage, instead moving her attention back to her still grinning Guardian.

"Did you want something, or were you just following me around? If it's the latter, let me tell you I don't really appreciate being shadowed all day long…"

"Then you just have to get used to it, little one…"

This time it had been Aphrodite who had talked, a gentle smile stretching his lips, eyes twinkling in amusement at Sara's expression of growing horror.

"Tell me you are joking! Because you are joking, right? C'mon! You don't follow Helena around all day long!"

This time the indulgent, amused chuckle came directly from the modern Pope, whose eyes betrayed the lingering sadness of the man.

"It is technically protocol, young one! Ophiucus needs one or both her Guardians with her all times; failure to comply with this, is usually seen as a preliminary act of war. Due to her peculiar upbringing Helena is the exception to the rule, but even Helena is usually followed around by Death Mask and Aphrodite, and if they cannot, one of us will take their place. You probably never noticed this because we usually don't tail her like Deuteros just did with you, we simply accompany her wherever she needs to go!"

Now that it was being pointed out to her, Sara had actually noticed that Helena never went anywhere without either her Guardians or one of the other Gold Saints.

It had seemed peculiar at first, but Sara finally understood the reason behind it, acknowledging between herself that being accompanied was better than being shadowed. Deciding to change her own arrangement to mirror that as soon as she was able, Sara let the matter drop for the moment, surreptitiously trying to get away as fast as possible, as not to be dragged into giving the very answers she was desperately trying not to give.

When she felt El Cid's iron grip on her shoulder, Sara understood that she wasn't going to go anywhere without explanations.

"Why are you trying to flee, young one? Whatever it is, we can solve it together…"

It was like Sage's kind words had forced open the dam on her feelings that Sara had been trying to keep shut for weeks.

With a chocked sob and a broken wail Sara, with all the neediness of a scared fourteen years old child, catapulted herself towards her Pope, hiding her face in the large folds of his tunic, trying and failing to keep her tears from falling.

Less shocked about the impromptu hug than the other Gold Saints – after all he had been the Pope for over two centuries and Sara was not the first child he had had to console in his long life – Sage simply hugged the shaking form of Sanctuary's new healer, patiently waiting for the sobs to die down enough to try and have a decent conversation.

After what felt like an eternity for Shion and his comrades – very much not used to the messy waterworks of a young female – Sara finally decided that she had cried enough for a lifetime, and she had possibly embarrassed herself to death in the meantime, and moved away from the former Cancer Saint, while trying to dry her tears on her sleeve.

The sudden appearance of thirteen different handkerchiefs right under her nose – all of them different, and all of them bearing some kind of symbol that helped her identify the owner at first glance – managed to bring out a meek chuckle, they grew a bit more when Sara took stock of the bewildered faces of her own comrades at the, admittedly rather cute, display.

"What the fuck are you looking at, you morons? You'll learn soon enough that an handkerchief is the least of the things you will have to carry around constantly when dealing with a woman!"

As always, Death Mask's signature finesse had his own fiancé cringe in horror at his uncouth mouth and behaviour, but, in the privacy of his own mind, Aphrodite could not help but concur with him on his assessment: during the years all of them had learnt that tissues, glasses, cardigans and, on one memorable and never again mentioned occasion, even tampons were only some of the basic necessities that were a must when dealing with both Helena and Athena.

While still offering his handkerchief, Aphrodite could not help but be proud to notice that Sara had favoured a dirty looking scrap of cloth that Kardia seemed to have taken directly from his cloak; while a bit disgusted by the unclean state of the cloth, the Pisces Saint was glad that the young Ophiucus had recognized the importance of favouring her own comrades, over their future reincarnations.

"Enough with the tears, young one! Will you tell us now what ails you? We might be able to help you after all…"

As always Rasgado's soft demeanour – despite his size and looks the Taurus Saint was the gentlest of the Golds, a fact that his students were proud to boast on every possible occasion – had the instant effect of calming the situation and, while still looking unsure and very ready to bolt at the first possible occasion, Sara decided to open up with the others. Helena had told them that the Gold Saints had the potential to become the family she had lost and, maybe, just this once Sara wanted to try and believe it.

"My brother hates me…"

The statement was cryptic enough that almost all the 18th century Gold Saints looked puzzled by it, but for three of them things could not have been clearer.

"So we were right…"

Kardia's murmured exclamation had been loud enough to be picked by Degel and, unfortunately, Sara herself.

"You _knew?!_"

The high-pitched squeal was swiftly followed by a flight attempt, miserably aborted when Sara caught the murderous expression on Deuteros' face. While facing the conversation might be uncomfortable and very low on the list of things the young girl wanted to do, avoiding it altogether was something that was going to get her killed in the slowest way possible, if she was reading correctly Gemini's expression.

Trying to get the answers she wanted – and those all revolved around knowing since when the three of them had known and how much of a fool she had made herself look like – Sara squared her shoulders and fixed her gaze in Kardia's eyes.

"How long have you known? Was I…"

Quickly figuring out what she was trying to ask, and thus sparing her at least part of her embarrassment, El Cid decided to answer his protégé.

"Nobody noticed anything, if that's what you are worried about! As for us, we have suspected something like this since you told Helena where you come from and we confirmed it when she said that every Ophiucus Saint is granted a new soul when becoming one with the Cloth, and that previous looks won't matter after the transformation…"

So they had known all along, practically even before she was aware of it herself. At this new piece of information Sara could not help but hung her head dejectedly; she must have looked like a right idiot all this time! And worse, if they hadn't said anything, it was probably because they thought she was a pitiful girl, unworthy of being loved by her own brother nonetheless.

"Don't put ourselves in the same category as you put him! We didn't say anything because we weren't sure if we had it right, and frankly it wasn't any of our business. Plus we, stupidly, thought that giving you two time and space to rediscover each other without external interferences would have resulted in a better outcome. Had we known he would have rejected you, we would have said something…"

True to himself, El Cid had not apologised to his young charge, but the chagrined tone and his choice of words were as close to an apology than anybody, save for Sisiphus, had ever gotten out of him.

Waving away his apology – while she had appreciated his support, it wasn't anybody's fault if her brother had rejected her – Sara managed to produce a weak, bitter smile that saddened everybody instead of reassuring them.

"It's ok El Cid…you cannot always protect me from everything…it was stupid of me to want to try and create a bond between us, when I know that my Cloth is a difficult burden to carry…"

The modern Gold Saints had started to get an inkling of who the young girl was talking about, and while chagrined by the fact that prejudice about Ophiucus could ruin a brotherly relationship, they were internally relieved to hear Sara call Ophiucus _her _Cloth; nothing good ever came from those instances when a host had refused the Snake Master.

Given that there was only one Gold Saint missing from the premises – and Sara had almost never left the Twelve Houses so there had been little interaction between her and the rest of Sanctuary – Sage and the others had no difficulty in catching up whom Sara was referring to.

A loud smack, followed by what everybody could only suppose were curses – no one in Sanctuary had figured out where Albafica was from, and the man in question had always kept his mouth closed shut on the topic – announced the world that the Pisces Saint had been thoroughly impressed – and not in a good way – by the intrinsic stupidity of his chosen companion.

"He spends half his time whining about the fact that he's never had the chance of seeing his little sister grow up and when he finally has the chance to meet her, he acts like the stupid idiot he is!"

While knowing there had to be something they were missing, Sage could not help but agree wholeheartedly with Albafica's statement. He as well had been an unwilling subject of many whining speeches by Manigoldo, and he had also been asked, more times he could count, to go and scour Hell in hopes of finding the young girl's soul there. When it had become clear that she hadn't died, Manigoldo had asked all the missions that could take him outside Sanctuary, trying to find his missing sister.

Finding her had become almost an obsession of his young pupil, and now that he had found her – or better yet, she had found him – Sage had difficulty in understanding why Manigoldo was acting like this towards her.

"He doesn't hate you…"

No question, no supposition, just an iron certainty. Death Mask might not have known the whole story, he might not have known Manigoldo intimately, but he knew how he would have acted if he had been in the same situation.

For all they had seen that Helena, and Sara, were not dangerous to Sanctuary and Athena, Manigoldo and the others had been brought up with the scary stories of the Fallen Cloth, the traitor of Sanctuary. It had taken Death Mask and Aphrodite a long time before believing that the Ophiucus Cloth would not end up killing them in their sleep, and they had been living with Helena day in and day out. It had taken even longer for all their companions to see beyond the legends and into the soul of a young girl they had helped raise. The fact that almost all of their pre-incarnations had taken to Sara almost without prejudices, was a remarkable fact, that Death Mask knew was due more to their presence in the midst than to something else.

That one of the Gold Saints still harboured distrust towards the Ophiucus Saint was to be expected. Still, Death Mask was quite sure that Manigoldo's eventual distrust of the Cloth had nothing to do with his interactions with his younger sister.

"How can you be so sure? Being his reincarnation doesn't mean you know exactly how he reacts to everything…"

"I know, girl! And believe, that is not the reason…I am sure he doesn't hate you, because he had done exactly what I would have done, had I been in his position…"

"Explain, Cancer!"

Albafica's bossy tone, so similar to Aphrodite's, brought a smirk on Mask's face; he could have refused him an answer, after all it was common knowledge that he didn't like to be bullied into things, but the Cancer Saint thought that there would be no harm in conceding the point this time.

"From what you told me, Manigoldo spent the last decade trying to find Sara either in the land of the dead or in the one of the living. Finding her here, in Sanctuary, donning one of the Cloths – incidentally a Gold one and the only one linked to a long list of deadly legends – was the one thing he wanted less in the world. It doesn't really matter that she is wearing Ophiucus – even if that definitely didn't help. It is the fact that she is wearing _a_ Cloth, training to be a Saint, preparing herself for battle, that he cannot stand. I can imagine that where he comes from, women have to be protected and cared for, younger sisters even more so. A battlefield is not the place for a woman in his mind, especially not his younger sister. He isn't angry at you, he is angry at himself…"

Apparently he and Manigoldo had more in common than he would have thought; having grown up in the modern world, Death Mask had had to curb his cavalier instincts, especially around Helena, lest he ended up offending her. Helena was the child of a different culture than his own, an older sister, and the heiress of both a dangerous Cloth and a huge economic empire. She had learnt to stand her ground at an early age, and she had clearly stated, on more than one occasion, that she had felt smothered by Cancer's hyper protective instincts. It had taken them both the better part of their first year together to find some kind of common ground between his almost obsessive desire to shield her, and her own wild streak.

The fact that he had lost his younger sister had only served to increase his paranoia. The years, and Helena's own growth, had softened somewhat his approach, but they still fought from time to time, when Death Mask thought she was being reckless and tried to lock her in a room, and Helena told him, in no uncertain terms, that his paranoia wasn't welcomed.

Some days it was gruelling work, but the end result made it more than worth it.

Manigoldo and Sara were, apparently, at the starting point of that journey. Death Mask wasn't an idiot, and he was perfectly aware of the fact that, when he and Helena had stood at the beginning of their own journey, someone – he still didn't know who – had told Helena the same things he was now telling Sara. Having had an insight on his way of thinking had been what had brought Helena back to him, making her willing to compromise also for his sake. He knew very well that, had she not been told the story, she would never have tried to see beyond his abysmal and misogynistic behaviour. Death Mask still didn't know who was the person to whom he owed his relationship with Helena, but he could be the one to explain things to Sara this time, hoping that, like Helena before her, she would see beyond Manigoldo's hurtful and cruel words and into his heart.

Judging from Sara's pensive expression, it looked like his job had been done splendidly. They were going to be fine, provided Manigoldo managed not to blotch it spectacularly!

"That was…unexpected…"

With this admission, much of Sara's previous depression had melted away, only to be replaced by a rather intriguing fire.

"But that doesn't excuse his abysmal behaviour! If he's got something to say, then he better learn to say it in front of my face, because this hurtful routine will not cut anymore!"

When Sara's words were met with amused laughter, and promises to help her straighten up the wayward Cancer, Death Mask let his eyes roam the room, finally meeting the cerulean orbs of his Goddess, spying the scene from behind one of the columns.

Exchanging a knowing smile and a wink with her, Death Mask finally permitted his anxiety over Helena's fate to melt away. Now that he had discovered that Manigoldo was not angry at the Ophiucus Saint in general, but he was specifically targeting his younger sister, he could breath easier.

Helena would not be in danger, but if she knew the true reason behind the brotherly squabble, than Manigoldo's life would become a living Hell!


	53. Sono matti!

While Manigoldo's life wasn't a living hell _yet_, it was on a very fast track to get there sooner rather than later.

While proud of the fact that Sage had chosen him for the mission, he was starting to regret the choice as he just wanted to be as far away as possible from both the future Ophiucus and Scorpio Saints.

"They are _mad_! I am telling you, Albafica! They are both nut jobs!"

In the privacy of the Twelfth House, Albafica was trying very hard not to laugh at the petulant and downright childish tone that Manigoldo was using. During the previous ten minutes of conversation, the Cancer Saint had reiterated the same concept in every possible variation and the Pisces Saint was sure that even the walls had gotten the message. Taking care not the upset the delicate balance of the water in the basin, Albafica moved out of Manigoldo's seeing range, to properly laugh at his companion's behaviour.

Communication through small bodies of water had been Helena's idea, one she had implemented with the help of the younger of her Gemini twins. Kanon had, apparently, spent a good portion of his life under Poseidon's rule – Degel had looked a bit sick at the prospect, but Albafica had really wanted to ask, even if he had refrained from doing it after having been subjected to Helena's iciest glare – and had mastered some neat tricks with water. One of those tricks had enabled them to connect two bodies of water, provided that Kanon was at one end and either Helena or Saga at the other. Whatever the reason behind this trick, it had enabled them to communicate with the three Saints outside on a mission, even if Albafica had the strong suspicion that Helena and her Guardians had their own, private, way of talking to each other.

In that moment, Albafica was the only one in Athena's temple – a courtesy that all the other Saints had done him so that he could talk in peace with Manigoldo – and he assumed that his companion was similarly alone in the dwellings he shared with Milo and Helena. Whether or not he was actually alone would not have put any kind of filter on Manigoldo's comments, but the Pisces Saint could only hope that, this time, he didn't end up insulting someone more powerful than him once again – Albafica was actually glad that he had been dead when Manigoldo had gone to face Thanatos, or he would have killed the idiot with his own two hands after having heard exactly what he had said to the Twin Gods' faces.

"I would like to point out that you aren't exactly a sterling example of mental sanity, Manigoldo! Don't you think?"

As always, Albafica's remark had gone lost in the verbal avalanche that kept coming from Manigoldo's side of the mirror.

Knowing that there was no way - short of shutting the man up by kissing him senselessly – to make Manigoldo cease his blabbering before he was well and truly done, Albafica sit down again and he let himself enjoy the rather adventurous re-telling of Milo's and Helena's escapades.

Just like all the other Saints, whether current or modern, Albafica was aware of what the three of them were doing in regards of the mission: Helena's daily check-ins, done to spare the coronaries of both her Guardians and apparently Athena herself, were punctual and thorough and so very detailed and vivid, that the Pisces Saint had had the impression of being there with them more than once.

Apparently, though, that level of detail didn't transfer over to their extracurricular activities; while Albafica was sure that both Death Mask and Aphrodite were aware of what their charge was really doing – for all his ditzy behaviour, his reincarnation was surprisingly scary when he put his mind to it, and Albafica was sure that this ferocity came out especially when Helena tried to pull the wool over his eyes – it looked like the Ophiucus Saint hadn't felt necessary to inform anybody else to what exactly she and the Scorpio Saint were doing with the free time.

It didn't look like they were trying hard to keep it a secret, otherwise Pisces was sure that they wouldn't have been caught more than once by Manigoldo, and the stories that the Cancer Saint had relayed until that moment were absolutely hilarious, even if a bit mad.

Catching sight of Regulus lurking outside the room where he was in, Albafica signalled him to come inside. Soon enough the young lion had reached him, accompanied by what looked like most of their companions and their reincarnations.

Paying attention not to be accidentally seen or heard by the still raving Cancer – while Manigoldo told pretty enough stories when he was aware of having an audience, it was when he thought to be talking only to Albafica or Sage that he gave the very best of himself – they all took up a space on the floor and made themselves comfortable enough to listen to whatever mad scheme Scorpio and Ophiucus had cooked up to drive Cancer to insanity.

Nobody really knew how to tell Manigoldo that, but it seemed that whatever escapade Milo and Helena were caught in, they all somehow rebounded on the innocent Cancer, making him the prime victim of what looked like a long streak of high-calibre pranks.

Albafica had had his suspicions at the beginning but Kanon had been the one to properly confirm them: at least half of what Milo and Helena were doing, was done with the express purpose of being a prank on Manigoldo – if Albafica had had any doubts about Helena knowing that the Cancer Saint had, not so gently, turned down his sister this had blown them off. What was a bit worrying was the fact that the other half of what they were doing, was done in earnest in order to finish the mission, and it usually didn't involve Manigoldo at all, even if Cancer still didn't see it.

In the two weeks the three of them had been absent, Helena and Milo had managed to almost sell Manigoldo to a slave ring they had met on the road, 'accidentally' loose all of his clothes during his bath so that Cancer had had to go around the block with only a towel to protect his modesty, and, this one apparently not so accidentally, join the underground faction of the city they were supposed to investigate.

While the first two were deliberate, if not completely innocent, pranks on Manigoldo, the third one had been done, or so Helena had explained it, in order for them to gain better access to the city.

Albafica really had no idea how his reincarnation and the future Cancer Saint had been able to sleep the night in which it had happened; while Helena had reported a minor altercation between them and the city's thugs, Manigoldo's story had uncovered some scary details that would have made anyone with a sound mind blanche in horror.

_"__Sage I'm telling you, you need to get me out of here! Those two are mad! Worse than mad, they are _suicidal_! You would not believe what they just did! There is a fine line between insanity and genius, but I think those two have crossed it eons ago!"_

_It had not been the first time, in the scant two days the three of them had spent in the city, that Manigoldo reported some mad schemes that Helena and Milo seemed to cook up from thin air, but it was the first time that the young Cancer had done so with a detectable edge of panic in his voice._

_"__Manigoldo…"_

_"__NO! You have to listen to me, Sage! They are unhinged! You know that we have not been making any progress in finding out the information we need on this creep, right? It doesn't really matter who we ask, be it a poor man or a rich one, nobody will give us any answers! Helena thought that this was because the creep we are looking for is good enough not to make any information leak to the general population. I agreed and we discussed the merit of trying some less-than-savoury establishments to see whether we could hear some juicier titbit. We had decided to go tonight to one of the less dangerous ones since there was no sense in risking our necks on some unfounded hunch. The evening went just about what you'd expect: we managed to pick up some interesting chatter, but nothing of substance and it had soon become very clear that nobody would tell us anything since we are foreigners. I had just about suggested to the Scorpio Saint that to call it a night, grab the girl on the way out and try again tomorrow, when I almost got bowled over by the not-so-light weight of the snake girl. And when I finally managed to regain my balance, I was greeted by none other than the idiot with a psychotic grin staring bemusedly, and I repeat _bemusedly_, at the fucking knife that was coming out of her shoulder!"_

_Sage would never know if his pupil had been aware that his retelling had gained quite the audience and had said what he had said on purpose just to rile his reincarnation up, or if Manigoldo had simply recounted the story for his master's ears alone._

_Nevertheless, what happened after his charming description of what had looked like the fist stage of a brawl, had been Saori's rather explosive reaction – the sheer amount of yelling and cussing had deeply shaken Sage and his Saints to the core, even if it looked like Saga and the rest hadn't been particularly fazed by it._

_"__Where was Milo?"_

_The question had come, not surprisingly, from Camus, the one who knew best – even if the others were very aware of it as well – that if Helena had pulled that stunt, Milo could not have been that far away._

_"__Scorpio you say? That was actually the scariest part of all! He gave Helena a once over, grinned like a fucking lunatic and then, quiet as you please, grabbed the knife still protruding from the girl's shoulder and, _without even looking back_, flung it right in the middle of some thug's chest! And then he winked at him! And worst of all, he went back at the bar, ordered another drink, swallowed it like it was water and then ordered yet another, telling the bartender to make it extra strong because, and I quote, 'the lovely lady over there looks like she needs a stiff drink, don't you agree?'. Now tell me if this isn't madness?!"_

_At that, even Deuteros looked put out by the sheer amount of lunacy that the Scorpio and the Ophiucus Saints had exhibited. But before any of Manigoldo's comrades had found their voice again, it was Shura who asked a question._

_"__Did it work?"_

_That had thrown the 18__th__ century Gold Saints for a loop; what had Shura meant? Was it possible that the entire thing had been nothing but a well-rehearsed play?_

_"__You don't mean to tell me that it was staged, right?"_

_When it looked like Shura had decided not to expend another word on the subject, it was with a fond smile that Saga decided to take over._

_"__Of course it was staged! Milo and Helena have always done this kind of things together and, I really don't know anything about it, I would presume that to infiltrate a gang of lowlifes and thugs, you actually need to show them some of the merchandise you are selling…"_

_"__What. The. Fuck? What merchandise are you talking about?"_

_"__Tsk…there is no need to be this rude so late at night, Manigoldo! And to answer your question, they needed to see what talents we had to offer them in exchange for a place in their gang; I'd say that with the show we put on they should grant us a higher status, don't you think Milo? I really don't want to loose my time with petty crimes…"_

_Apparently Manigoldo's rant had been loud enough to cover the entry of the two missing Saints, who were still grinning like idiots even if they were covered in blood and bruises._

_"__From your grins I'd say it went well…even if I don't really approve of your methods you two! I thought I had ordered you not to blow anything up! Did you think I would have approved of a bar-brawl of all things? You are reckless and impossible! I should have you punished for what you did tonight! Good work!"_

_The abrupt about-face done by Saga at the last possible second in his tirade, had all of them, not just Helena and Milo, secretly smiling._

_Just as the two newly-appointed members of the gang were about to go change out of their bloody clothes, it was then that Saori decided to take action._

Albafica would always remember the thorough dressing down that Saori had done to her two Saints as one of the most hilarious and fulfilling experiences of his life.

It hadn't really mattered that Helena had tried to explain to the Goddess that she had been wearing armour underneath her clothes and thus she had been perfectly safe and the knife hadn't even nicked her. It definitely hadn't mattered when Milo had tried to say something in his defence, ending up stuttering out the last few words under Athena's iciest glare.

On his part, on one hand he could see the logic behind Helena's and Milo's actions, but on the other hand there had been so many ways that brawl could have played up, that it had been sheer luck that nothing really serious had happened. And judging by the cross looks on Helena's Guardians' faces, they both thought the same thing.

Still, the plan had worked and they had successfully started to obtain the information they needed, and they were closing in on the perpetrator of the crimes.

"You still rattling us out, Manigoldo? What are you? Five?"

Once again it looked like Manigoldo's rant had covered the entry of the other two Saints, even if, this time, their attire had been much more conservative and, luckily, bloodless.

Before the Cancer Saint had had any chance at formulating a response beyond senseless spluttering, Helena got over the water basin and peered inside.

"Oh, good! You are all here! We have managed to infiltrate the palace of the noble who should be behind the weird abductions. We start tomorrow!"

The close time-frame had come to a shock to most of them; intellectually they knew they needed to hasten the end of the mission, but the fact that in just a few short hours three of them would be cast in probable danger once more, had left them with a bitter aftertaste.

"Be careful, brat!"

The softly spoken 'whenever am I not' had all of them smiling.

"Bonne chance, mon coeur…"

"It's going to be fine, guys! It's just recon, and we've done this lots of times before! It's probably going to be one of those cases where there's a rich, bored, guy who has decided to abuse his power just for fun! Me and Helena will be out of there in a jiffy! You'll see it!"

Milo's optimistic tone had Camus and the others smiling, once again believing that the mission would end well.

After that, there was nothing else that needed to be said and so they all quickly made their goodbyes and the connection was interrupted, waiting for the following day to be picked up again.

Nobody really knew, or could even predict that the next time they would talk to each other like this, the situation had become so dire than a positive result would almost seem impossible.


End file.
